[Biographies: Livia Drusilla]

Livia Drusilla Julia Augusta was a woman who lived in the 1st Century AD. She was the wife of Augustus and even after his death she still wielded the considerable power that the position enjoyed. She was without a doubt the most powerful woman of her era.

Livia was born of a mixed parentage. Livia Drusilla, the future Julia Augusta, was born on September 28, 58 BC in Rome itself. Her father was Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus; a scion of the ancient and powerful House of Claudii, her mother was Alfidia, the daughter of a lowly town magistrate in Italia (modern Italy). Because of her mother’s lowly status Livia did not enjoy the life of a patrician, even though because of her father Livia was member of not only the Claudii, but of the equally impressive House of Livii. We know little of Livia’s childhood, other than it was a rough one due to her father’s political alliances. Marcus Claudianus had chosen to oppose the power of Julius Caesar, and this would result in turbulent times for his family. In 42 BC the forces of the assassins of Julius Caesar, Livia’s father among them, were defeated at Philippi in Macedon. Claudianus was found among those who committed suicide. As a result the choice was made to force Livia, then 15 years old, to marry her cousin Tiberius Claudius Nero in hopes of strengthening the family’s position in what was too come.

Livia’s first marriage would be a stormy one. As it turns out Livia’s new senator husband would be just as bad as her father was in making political alliances. Claudius Nero was a strong opponent of Octavian, the grand-nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. Despite Livia’s worries over what would happen to her new family she bore her new husband a son by year’s end, the future Emperor Tiberius. However things would soon shake up for the new family. Because of Claudius Nero’s choice to oppose Octavian he, Livia, and baby Tiberius, were forced to flee Italia to escape the charged climate of Rome. First they fled to Sicilia (modern Sicily) and took refuge there with the son of Pompey the Great, Sextus Pompeius. In 39 the family was forced to flee to Greece to take refuge there. Octavian announced a general amnesty later that year and Livia, along with Tiberius, left for home. No one knows the exact circumstances but apparently some one introduced Livia to Octavian soon after her arrival. Octavian was thunderstruck by Livia’s beauty, and despite the fact he already was married, he desired to have Livia for his wife (interestingly enough many people doubt this really happened and that Octavian merely wanted Livia for political purposes). When Claudius Nero returned to Rome Octavian met with him and told him to divorce Livia so that he could marry her. Claudius Nero agreed, but with one proviso, that Octavian make sure that when the child that Livia was carrying at the time (she had been six months pregnant already at the time of her meeting Octavian) was born that he was acknowledged as the father. Octavian agreed to the proviso and on January 16, 38 BC he divorced his wife Scribonia, at the same time Claudius Nero divorced Livia. They married the very next day, throwing the traditional ten month waiting period out the proverbial window. True to his word when Livia gave birth to the future Drusus the Elder, Octavian publicly acknowledged Claudius Nero as the father.

Thus would begin the long fifty year marriage of Octavian and Livia. Despite the fact that the marriage of Octavian to Livia was fraught with scandal (Julia the Elder, Octavian’s only biological child, was born on the day of divorce) the marriage would prove to be a happy one. Not much is known of Livia’s activities before the Battle of Actium and the subsequent ascension of Octavian to Imperial power. However we do know that even very early in their marriage Livia exercised a great deal of influence in her husband’s life. Around 35 B.C. Octavian gave Livia unprecedented control over her life, allowing her to manage her own finances among other things. Using this new found freedom Livia began to push through her own circle of friends to Octavian, among them the grandfather of the future emperor Otho. In 31 BC Octavian defeated Marc Anthony at the Battle of Actium, eliminating his last real obstacle to total power. In January, 27 BC Octavian officially handed over the emergency powers granted to him by the Senate back. But the Senate gave the powers back to Octavian, and insisted he keep them permanently. The Senate also bestowed upon Octavian a new name: Augustus (Latin: sacred, revered). The transformation of Octavian into Augustus would have a profound impact on his wife as well; her life would never be the same.

As the wife of Rome’s ‘First Citizen’ Livia was to have new responsibilities. An interesting faucet of Augustus’ personality was his insistence on the old conservative values. Augustus himself did not really adhere to these values, but it appears he saw Rome as denigrating morally. As the wife of Augustus, Livia was expected to take a large role in the conservative reforms movement, and she did. One of the first things was that Livia rejected all kinds of jewelry and gaudy costumes. She preferred to dress in a modest and unadorned fashion, quite a shock considering the way in which a Roman dressed in those days. Livia also preferred to keep her home simple as well, and did not go to any great lengths to beautify it (not that much would have been possible anyway, the home of the first Imperial couple was a small house). Rather then have the servants do the housework Livia actually insisted on doing it herself, cooking and cleaning was not something most Roman women did. Livia also sewed, Augustus could have chosen any fabric he wanted for his clothes, but he preferred to wear his wife’s homespun clothing. Livia also did some things which were not conservative, such as insisting that wherever Augustus went, she go too. In Roman society women did not follow their husbands in public, they stayed in the house. Livia also held over Augustus a great deal of influence, as mentioned above and many careers were started or ended on her word. Perhaps the greatest example of this influence was that she was able to convince Augustus to give women in general a greater deal of power, such as the ability to fund public buildings. Livia was also her husband’s chief advisor; Augustus would on occasion refuse do something unless he consulted with her first. However Livia’s power did not stop there, Augustus authorized her to be his official diplomatic representative on occasion. When Augustus could not be in Rome Livia was in charge of ruling. It is of interesting note that despite his conservative agenda Augustus was a secret adulterer, but though under Augustus’ own law Livia could divorce him she remained loyal to her husband. However Livia’s greatest power rested in the realm of family politicking. Livia’s involvement in the messy history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty has been much inflated and demonized, as a result of hostile Roman historians Livia has taken something of a bad rap and has been portrayed as the wicked step-mother. And while Livia did meddle in family affairs she was not the monster she is often portrayed as. Livia’s involvement began when Augustus arranged for his only biological child, Julia the Elder, to be married to his favored general, Vipsanius Agrippa. Livia arranged at the same time to have Tiberius married to Agrippa’s daughter Vipsania. At this point Livia’s goal was simply to secure her family a high place in Rome. But when Agrippa, who had been designated heir, died suddenly in 12 BC everything went to the dogs. Every relative of Augustus and his grandmother began to lobby for the position of heir. However at first it appeared that this was for naught, Augustus had chosen his two grandsons, Gaius and Lucius, would succeed him. At the same time Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce Vipsania and marry Julia. A prospect that Tiberius did not liken too; he truly loved Vipsania and found Julia repulsive. But Augustus was, as both ‘First Citizen’ and his stepfather in position to order this upon Tiberius. About this time the rumors began to circulate that Livia had arranged the marriage, but the records show that Augustus came up with the idea himself. Livia probably did have a hand in the marriage of her younger son, Drusus the Elder’s, marriage to Augustus’ favorite niece, Antonia Minor back in 16 BC. Tragedy struck Livia when Drusus died suddenly in 9 BC, and in a effort to comfort his wife Augustus had a statue of her built (interestingly enough this was the second statue of Livia constructed, the first was built back in 35 BC along with a statue of Octavia). In 2 BC when Augustus was honored with the title of Pater Patriae (Latin: Father of the Fatherland), Livia was honored as well with the title Mater Patriae (Latin: Mother of the Fatherland). Augustus had his own personal tragedy when in 2 and 4 AD he lost Lucius and Gaius respectively. Almost immediately the blame was laid on Livia, since she had the most to gain from their deaths. Augustus tried his best to dispel the rumors and it is from this that the bad reputation of Livia springs forth. By the end of the year a settlement over the succession crises was found. Augustus would adopt Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus as heirs; Tiberius would in turn adopt Germanicus, his younger brother’s oldest son as heir. For awhile things seemed to go smoothly then troubles started again when Germanicus’ young son Gaius (not Caligula) died. The child was dear to Augustus, so Livia had a statue made in secret and put in his bedroom to surprise him. When Agrippa Postumus was exiled Tiberius was the only one left to inherit, making many think that Livia was behind it, though in modern opinion Agrippa’s exile was more the fault of his attitude then anything else. In 14 AD Augustus Caesar died of old age, though the rumor mongers largely blamed Livia. According to the historian Suetonius, Augustus was too have said to Livia as he lay dying “Live mindful of our wedlock, Livia and farewell” (modern historians do not know what to make of this). With Augustus’ passing and the ascension of Tiberius the golden age of Livia’s power ended.

With the passing of her husband a new chapter of life opened for Livia. Soon after Augustus died uproar occurred because Livia did not immediately announce his death, the public, and the Senate, did not come to the knowledge of the death till sometime later. Nevertheless Livia emerged unscathed from the incident and was allowed to lead the funeral procession and attend the cremation ceremony. Livia and Tiberius jointly oversaw the burial and it is commonly believed that she authored the honors paid to Augustus at the burial. Livia probably played a huge part in the deification of her husband; it was later revealed she paid a man to say he saw Augustus ascend to heaven. After the deification Livia, along with her son, was the primary force behind the construction of a shrine dedicated to him, and thus the starting of the emperor cult. In fact Livia was to become the first high priestess of the cult. After the furry of activity began to die down Augustus’ will was read. In it an amazing discovery was made: one full third of his estate would go to Livia, the other two to Tiberius. It was not common at all for a woman to inherit anything, much less to the degree that Livia was. But there was one more surprise in the will. As his last act Augustus officially adopted Livia into the House of Julii, essentially making Livia a patrician. Finally Augustus bestowed the title of Augusta upon Livia, who to commemorate the occasion changed her name to Julia, thus making her name from then on Julia Augusta. In honor of her new position Livia was allowed to have one lictor (a person who symbolized power)follow her through the streets of Rome. Despite the death of Augustus Livia still exercised power, this time over Tiberius, who over time began to resent it. This was characterized by when in 16 AD Livia came out in person to help put out a fire and Tiberius forbade her from ever doing it again. When Germanicus died in 19 AD and Calpurnius Piso was accused of murdering him rather then use her power to bring Piso down Livia instead used it to save Piso’s wife Plancina, who was one of her best friends. Many Romans considered it unusual she choose to aid Plancina, rather then help bring her and Piso down for the murder of her favorite grandson Germanicus. Whatever Livia’s reasons when Piso was found dead of suicide and he was posthumously found guilty Plancina and her son were absolved of any wrongdoing on Piso’s side by Livia. It is interesting to note that when Germanicus’ widow arrived in Rome with young Gaius Caligula that custody of the boy passed to his great-grandmother Livia. Caligula would later write that during the time he stayed with Livia he thought her an Ulixes stolatus (Latin: Odysseus in a matron’s dress) or in other words he thought Livia a female version of Odysseus, the craftiest of the ancient Greeks. In 20 AD Livia managed to make speaking out against her a crime. Tiberius resented this greatly, and began to feel even more hostile to his mother when rumors began to spread if not for Livia he would not be on the throne. Tiberius openly then prevented the Senate from addressing Livia as Augusta and then Mater Patriae. However Tiberius showed his mother a great deal of respect. Livia meanwhile was jumpstarting the career of the future emperor Galba by adopting him into the House of Julii and starting him on the cursus honorum. In 22 AD she fell ill and the entirety of Rome began to pray for her, putting up alters everywhere. Tiberius prevented the construction of a great alter however. Perhaps feeling bad for this Tiberius had a seat amongst the Vestal Virgins provided for Livia in the theater in 24 AD. Two years later Tiberius left to a semi-retirement at the resort of Capri, he made only one short brief visit to his mother before leaving. Some rumors began to fly that Tiberius left for Capri just to get away from Livia. By this time Livia had lost all of her formers powers as the main consular to the emperor to the Prefect Sejanus. However Livia was still a formidable political mover which she proved when she pushed Furius Geminus to the Consulate in 29 AD. She died later that year in Rome. So died Livia Drusilla Julia Augusta, the most powerful woman of her time, at the age of 86.

Livia would leave a lasting legacy. Upon her death the Senate voted to give Livia a great and massive state funeral on the scale of Augustus’. But Tiberius vetoed the idea, and partly because of Sejanus he refused to attend the funeral. Livia was allowed a modest funeral with little of the honors accorded to her. Caligula would be the one to bestow full honors upon his great-grandmother and execute her will (which Tiberius had refused to do) and Claudius would deify her. Because of Augustus’ conservative programs all future generations of Roman women following her death were required to use Livia as a yardstick which to measure themselves by and it was by her name they swore oaths. Despite the mudslinging of many Roman historians to paint her as evil Livia Drusilla Julia Augusta still stands tall amongst the women of the Late Republic and Early Empire.

[Biographies: Shapur I]

Shapur I (Sassanid Persian: Shpwr-y) was a Persian monarch of the 3rd century AD. The second Shahanshah of the Sassanid dynasty, it fell upon Shapur to consolidate the new empire. Not only did he do this, but Shapur would go on to win the greatest victory the Sassanids would celebrate over Rome: the capture of Valerian.

The birth of Shapur is a mystery. Due to a lack of information the exact date of his birth remains an unknown. Not even a birthplace can be reliably postulated from available sources. We do know that Shapur’s father was Ardashir, the first Sassanid Shahanshah, and his mother was either a Lady Myrod or Princess Ziyanak (this is due to much debate over the identity of Shapur’s mother). Of his childhood we know nothing of, if anything was set down, it has been lost.

We get our first solid mention of Shapur during the downfall of the Parthian Arsacids. Shapur first reliably appears in the historical records as participating in his father Ardashir’s campaign against the Arsacids in 224-226 AD. In a victory relief Ardashir is seen judging Shapur as the “gentlest, wisest, bravest, and ablest of all his children”. Later during a meeting with the magnates of Persia, Ardashir nominated Shapur to be his successor. Shapur features in several reliefs of Ardashir, as the heir apparent. This tells us that the magnates accepted Ardashir’s choice of Shapur. In order to prepare his son for the burden of ruling Ardashir made Shapur co-ruler with him around the late 230s AD. In 237 Ardashir decided to renew his conflict with Rome, which had lain dormant since 233. Together with Shapur, who would prove to be a great military leader, Ardashir lead an invasion of the Roman East. The campaign was a stunning success, capturing both the cities of Nisibis and Carrhae. The shock of the loss of both of these vital cities prompted the Roman emperor, Gordian III, to recreate the old Roman vassal state of Osrhoene as a buffer. At the behest of his father Shapur then besieged the fortress city of Hatra. The great city finally fell in 241 AD and Ardashir soon arrived to take part in his son’s victory. However soon after arriving Ardashir died from unknown causes, and Shapur became the new ruler. Shapur was formally crowned as the second Shahanshah of Sassanid Persia on April 12, 241 AD. Shapur’s reign had formally begun.

With his ascension to the throne Shapur I would lead Persia to new heights. While Shapur was busy in Ctesiphon making his new reign stable the Romans were preparing for a counter-attack. The loss of three great cities in the East was too much for Gordian III to leave standing. So he assembled an army and led them to the East. The Roman forces reached Antioch just as the winter of 241-242 was beginning and stayed there for the duration of the season. Meanwhile Shapur had rejoined his men on the front and was preparing them for the Roman attack. However when the spring of 242 arrived Shapur decided to make a pre-emptive strike on Antioch to drive out the Romans. But this failed and Gordian’s father-in-law, Timesitheus, lead the Romans to defeat Shapur at Carrhae and Nisibis. Shapur then gathered his forces at Resaena to make a stand against the Romans there. The battle of Resaena would be a total rout for the Sassanid forces, and Shapur was forced to flee to the Euphrates River. Shortly after the battle was fought Timesitheus died under suspicious circumstances and Shapur retreated into Persia proper, giving up all he had gained. But things would then turn back to Shapur’s favor. After appointing Marcus Julius Philippus (better know as Philip the Arab) as his new Praetorian Prefect, Gordian III proceeded with his campaign against Shapur. Shapur meanwhile heard of this and so made a plan to trap Gordian. He pulled back his army to Misikoe (modern Fallujah, Iraq) and stationed his army inside. Shapur knew that Gordian III would not resist the opportunity for a fight. Shapur also knew that Roman legionnaires could not fight well in a city. As Shapur predicted Gordian sent his army to combat the Sassanids in Misikoe. In the ensuing battle the Roman defeat was so crushing that there is no record of it, the only account we have of the battle is the Sassanid account. There is some debate amongst historians if Misikoe was as a great a victory as the Sassanids make it sound, but if the Romans refused to record it surely it must be that bad. In any case shortly after the Roman retreat from Misikoe the emperor died. There is conflicting accounts of the cause of Gordian’s death, the two most popular are that he either was thrown off of his horse at Misikoe, and the Romans did not notice his death until their retreat the other that Philip the Arab assassinated him. Whatever the cause of death may be Gordian III was dead and Philip the Arab became the new Emperor. In 244 he hastily made a peace deal with Shapur I, in which in exchange for the right to peacefully evacuate to Syria Philip would give Shapur 500,000 gold pieces. Shapur accepted and Philip and the beaten Romans returned to Syria, where in an unusual move Philip declared himself conqueror of Persia (Latin: Parthicus Maximus). If this move bothered Shapur we will never know, at the time the Shahanshah was busy occupying the Roman province of Armenia.

With his first military campaign Shapur was to rest for a long time. Due to a dearth of information concerning Shapur’s activities outside his major campaigns and later building projects we do not know what Shapur I was doing in the gap between 244 and 252. In any case in 252 AD the Roman Empire was in great turmoil due to the instability of the throne. Shapur probably was meaning to at the time invade the Romans due to their instability when the Romans gave him the perfect excuse. For reasons unknown reasons the Roman emperor (at the time), Gallus, suddenly began to meddle in Armenian affairs, he then cut the payment of the 500,000 gold piece tribute that had been agreed upon with Philip the Arab. For Shapur this was unacceptable, so he ordered an invasion of the Roman East with the intent of finally taking the jewel, Antioch. The invasion proceeded without its ruler however due to an internal problem in Khorasan, which meant that Shapur could not be present. After the problem at Khorasan was resolved Shapur rejoined his army. His first task was to drive out the Roman presence in Armenia, after this was done Shapur appointed his son Hormozd Ardashir as the new Armenian king. Georgia then apparently submitted peacefully to Shapur, and for that Georgia was made into a special province. The Roman forces in the East made a brave stand at Barbalissus, but were wiped out by the Sassanid forces under Shapur. After this victory the Sassanid force split into two wings, one wing under Shapur’s personal command drove into Syria with the intention of sacking Antioch, which they did in 256 AD. The second half of the army under Hormozd Ardashir was tasked with invading Lesser Armenia and Cappadocia. Meanwhile in Rome a reaction finally registered when the newest emperor, Valerian, moved to deal with the invasion of Shapur. In 257 AD the Roman forces drove Shapur and his army out of Antioch and then Syria altogether. Valerian appeared to be prepared to continue the war when the Goths invaded Asia Minor. The Roman emperor was forced to move out from his positions in Syria, and Shapur similarly withdrew, recalling his son with him.

An uneasy peace had settled over the East with Valerian and Shapur’s mutual withdrawal, but it was not to last. In 260 AD the border skirmishes that had been taking place over the course of the last two years broke out into a third war. By this time Valerian had settled the Goth issue in Asia Minor, and Shapur was well prepared for him this time. The third war formally began when Shapur, once again having invaded Syria, laid siege to Edessa and Carrhae. Valerian then attacked the Sassanid positions and drove them out. The Roman forces then dug in those cities to await the Sassanid counter-attack. However a plague soon ravaged the Roman camps and several hundred soldiers died from the disease. When the plague abated Valerian realized he had lost too large a chunk of his army. The Roman emperor asked Shapur for terms so that he could return home. Shapur seemed to agree, but in reality the gears in his head saw a great opportunity. No man had ever captured a Roman emperor before; this was too good to pass up. After agreeing to Valerian’s request Shapur sent a contingent of his army into the Roman camp at Edessa. There they turned on the Romans and captured Valerian, his Praetorian Prefect, all the army commanders, and too numerous officers and regular soldiers to count. This act, the capture of Valerian and his army at Edessa, was without a doubt the greatest humiliation Rome suffered in the 3rd century. When Valerian was taken before Shapur he was forced to kneel and beg for his life from the Shahanshah, Shapur agreed to spare his life but would use Valerian as his personal stepping stool for the rest of the campaign. Valerian would never be freed and would spend the rest of his life in captivity. After his death, date unknown, Shapur would have the body skinned and display it as a remainder to Rome of his might. Meanwhile Shapur would next consolidate his control over Syria and conquer the provinces of Cilicia and Cappadocia. Before long however problems arose when the royal couple of Palmyra, Odainat and Zenobia, invaded. The attacks were hitting the Sassanids in the supply line and before long Shapur was left with no choice but to retreat back to Ctesiphon. Because the Sassanids were weighed down by all the booty and captives, the retreat was an easy target for the Palmyrenes and a nightmare for Shapur. The Palmyrenes, soon acting in tandem with the Romans, gave Shapur much trouble over the next few years. In quick succession Carrhae and Nisibis were lost (along with Shapur’s harem) and in 263 Ctesiphon itself was lost. In 264 Odainat captured Armenia from Shapur and kicked out Hormozd Ardashir. In 265 Odainat again captured Ctesiphon. After the recovery of Ctesiphon, Shapur led his last offensive when he captured Hatra. With the fall of this city a formal peace was made between Gallienus, the current Roman emperor, and Shapur.

With the conclusion of the third Roman war Shapur would focus on more peaceful matters. Upon the signing of the treaty in 265 Shapur would begin turning his eyes to more peaceful endeavors. One of the first things Shapur would do would be to change his title. Before his title had been ‘King of Kings of Iran’ now it was changed to ‘King of Kings of Iran and not-Iran’ or in other words King of Kings of the world. What caused this change was that Shapur brought a large group of foreigners back with him from campaign. The group was so large it would constitute an entirely new spectrum of Persian society. Shapur also now showed his religious tolerance. While Shapur himself was a Zoroastrian (he declared this himself and built numerous fire temples) he was remarkably tolerant of other faiths, especially of Christianity (the primary faith of the captives) and Judaism (Jews made up a large part of Persia’s population). Later in Shapur’s reign the new faith of Manichaeism, which Shapur showed some interest in (the founder of Manichaeism tired to several times convert Shapur, but always failed), was founded. Shapur also encouraged his people to learn new languages, in fact because of Shapur the Greek and Syriac languages prospered in Persia. In fact Shapur became a collector of foreign works and had them stored in the royal treasury (he even incorporated many ideas from these works into Zoroastrianism). However the most famous of all of Shapur’s domestic acts was his massive building projects. Over the course of five years Shapur systematically rebuilt or founded several cities. Nearly all of this was done by the captives brought from the Roman East, since Rome possessed better building techniques then Persia. The cities rebuilt are: Misikoe, which was rebuilt as Peroz-Sahpuhr and became Persia’s main arsenal, Apar-sahr was rebuilt as Nev-Sahpuhr or Nishapur, Rima was rebuilt as Sad-Sahpuhr. The new cities built are: Hormazd-Ardashir, built on the ruins of Susa, Gondeshapur, which was primarily built by the captives from Antioch and later became renown as learning center, lastly was Bishapur, Shapur’s home away from home. Shapur did not confine his domestic building projects to just towns, he also had built a great dam, called the Band-e Qeysar (Old Persian: Dam of Caesar). About this time, 272 AD, Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, was besieged in her capital, and for reasons unknown to all but Shapur, he decided to provide her with refuge in Ctesiphon. She would never reach Ctesiphon however, being caught on the border between Rome and Persia. Later that year in May, 270 Shapur died of illness. So died Shapur I, the great conqueror and builder of cities, at an unknown age.

In conclusion Shapur I was a great warrior king. The legacy Shapur left after he died would have a major influence on the still young Sassanid Empire. It would be Shapur I who was considered the role model for all future Sassanid rulers. To this very day Iranians still cherish Shapur’s memory and his capture of Valerian has insured he has never been forgotten in the history of the Middle East.

[Biographies: Zenobia]

Zenobia (Aramic: Zainab bat Zabaai) was an Arab queen of the 3rd century AD. Beautiful and cunning Zenobia ruled an empire based in Syria that controlled nearly the entire mid east. Like her famous ancestor Cleopatra however, Zenobia let the power go to her head, thus leading to her fall.

Zenobia’s birth is shrouded in mystery. Due to a variety of factors no record of Zenobia’s date of birth is left behind. Of her parents we know only her father, Zabaai ben Selim, who could trace his family back to Cleopatra Selene, Queen of Mauretania. An informed guess places Zenobia’s place of birth in the city of Palmyra, a trading city in what is now Syria that grew rich and powerful. Of Zenobia’s childhood we know she loved to study. In time Zenobia would learn to read and write several different languages, among them: Latin, Greek, Egyptian, various Arabic dialects, and Aramic. In fact Zenobia became somewhat obsessed with Greek culture and ways; she dressed like a Greek and even preferred to speak that language. At one point while still young Zenobia married the chieftan of Palmyra, Odainat ben Hairan (Latin: Septimius Odaenathus), to whom she would remain loyal.

At first Zenobia would rise on the path to glory along with Odainat. Odainat came from a rich old family that ruled Palmyra for many years and in the time before that the family were still Palmyra’s leading citizens. Hairan, Odainat’s father, had built close relations with Rome and had been given Roman citizenship and a place in the Senate. Thus Zenobia had chosen well in her marriage to Odainat. Around 258 AD the Romans made Odainat a Consul and appointed him governor of Syria. Unlike most women Zenobia was not simply content to take care of her husband’s home, though she was very good at it. Whenever Odainat went hunting in the desert, Zenobia went with him, when Odainat mobilized to chase after some desert tribes causing trouble Zenobia went with him. Together the royal couple shared power and prestige equally, both were considered the rulers of Palmyra. It is interesting to note that as Odainat’s policies yielded even more profit and fame for Palmyra he was to have said that he owed his success to Zenobia. However not everything was peaceful in Palmyra, the Romans and the Sassanid Persians were at war and Palmyra was stuck in the middle of the conflict. In 260 AD what was undoubtedly Rome’s greatest humiliation of the era occurred when the Sassanid Shahanshah, Shapur I, captured the senior Roman Emperor, Valerian, at Edessa. This was the first and only time a Roman Emperor was captured by a foreigner. But to the shock of both Odainat and Zenobia the Romans did nothing to try to rescue Valerian or even try to get revenge on the Sassanids. So the royal pair decided to do the job for Rome. According to some ancient accounts Odainat tried to prevent Zenobia from coming with him in the campaign against the Sassanids. But Zenobia would have none of it; neither would she accept any of her husband’s attempts to pamper her on campaign. Zenobia would ride out to war on her own horse, in full armor, hair undone, shouting war songs. As it turns it out Zenobia’s presence would be a great morale booster to the Palmyrene forces when Odainat moved against the Sassanids for the first time in late 260 AD. This first campaign would be a great success, driving Shapur completely out of Roman lands. In 261 the couple would besiege Quietus, a usurper based in Emesa (modern Homs), and kill him. For these actions Valerian’s son, Gallienus, bestowed the titles of dux Romanorum (Latin: leader of the Romans) and totius Orientis imperator (Latin: Commander-in-chief of the entire East). Over the course of the next several years Odainat and Zenobia would lead the Palmyrene forces to further victories over the Sassanids, going as far as to have twice sacked and held the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (modern Baghdad). In time the royal couple was able to restore, and then exceed, the power of Rome in the East. The popularity of Odainat and Zenobia was so great that Gallienus allowed for them to hold a triumph in Rome celebrating the recovery of Armenia in 264. When he returned to Palmyra from Rome, Odainat took upon himself a new Persian title to supplement his Roman ones: King of Kings. For Odainat, and for Zenobia, this decision would have lasting consequences. No man took the title King of Kings without a great deal of personal ambition. Perhaps due to this audacity, and perhaps due to scheming at his court in Palmyra, Odainat was assassinated in 268 with his eldest son, Hairan (who was born by his wife before Zenobia). To this day the identity of the murderer, and whomever ordered the assassination, is unknown. In any case with Odainat dead the rulership of Palmyra passed into the hands of his second son, Wahab-Allath (Latin: Vaballathus). But in reality Zenobia was in charge, Wahab-Allath was just a boy.

With her husband dead and son too young all power passed into hands of Zenobia, who would prove to be an able and talented ruler. For her first action as sole ruler of Palmyra Zenobia chose to punish whom she believed responsible for the death of her husband, her nephew Maconius. After cleaning up that little piece of business Zenobia solidified her rule in Palmyra. At this time (269) a local desert chief, named in Arab legend as Jadhimah, escalated his rivalry with Palmyra by launching raids into Palmyrene territory. For Zenobia this was the last she would put up with Jadhimah and others of his kind. She ordered the general Zabda to attack the desert nomads and end their threat. Then something happened that historians have been trying to figure the why since that time. For unknown reasons Zabda turned and invaded Roman territory, attacking in short order Bostra, Philadelphia, and Petra. Then the Palmyrene army launched an invasion of Egypt. The Roman prefect of Egypt, Tenagino Probus, initially threw back Zabda. But an Egyptian traitor, named Timagenes, helped the Palmyrene forces during their second attempt on Egypt, allowing for Probus’ capture. At the same time Zenobia launched an invasion of Syria and Asia Minor, which was led by a general named Zabbay. The Palmyrene invasion proceeded quickly, before anyone could believe it Palmyrenes were in Ancrya (modern Ankara) and Chalcedon (modern Kadikoy district, Istanbul). Zenobia now had a major problem on her hands with a variety of different faiths. Zenobia declared tolerance for all religions in her empire; she even went as far as befriending the Bishop of Antioch. There were still some problems, though these were mostly confined to conflicts between Christians and Jews. For the first time the Palmyrenes had conquered land and kept it for themselves, instead of handing it to Rome as Odainat had done. Here comes another confusing issue in Zenobia’s history, it was considered a normal act for a nation rebelling against Roman rule to print its own coinage with just the ruler of the rebelling nation in question upon it. But this is not the case in Zenobia’s Palmyra. Coins minted at both Antioch and Alexandria bare on one side the head of the newly crowned Emperor Aurelian, on the other was Wahab-Allath with his father’s Roman titles. This means according to modern historians that Zenobia was not truly rebelling against Roman authority, by the coinage Palmyra still acknowledged Rome as master. But then what was she doing? Perhaps we may never know. In any case Zenobia in around late 270, maybe early 271, made a visit with her son to Alexandria. There Zenobia declared that she was a descendent of Cleopatra and thus considered Alexandria and Egypt to be hers by right of bloodline. With the aim of increasing the Hellenic culture of her court Zenobia had Greek intellectuals from Alexandria come to Palmyra (curiously enough even though Zenobia was obsessed with Greek culture she insisted on Persian court ceremonial).

While Zenobia enjoyed the fruits of her victories in Asia, the Romans were very angry back in Italia. For the past several years the political scene of Rome was very much in turmoil. Emperor Gallienus had been assassinated about the same time as Odainat; his successor Emperor Claudius II had a short rule of barely two years, and was succeeded by his brother Quintillus. But Quintillus was unpopular with the army and in 270 they proclaimed their own emperor, the supreme commander of all Roman cavalry (note this title is different then the similar Master of Horses), Aurelian. By mid year Aurelian had defeated Quintillus and established himself as emperor. But Aurelian was not happy with just being the legitimate emperor; he wanted to be emperor in reality. He started off by warring with the German tribes in and around Italia itself then expanded out from there fighting Germanics, horse nomads, and the Goths over the course of the next two years. It was not until 272 that Zenobia’s actions in Palmyra were finally noticed by the court in Rome. For Rome the fact that a woman had nearly stolen the entirety of the East from them in a lightning strike that they had never even noticed till two years after the fact was more then they could bare. Aurelian was pressured on all sides to deal with this ‘Woman from the East’. Meanwhile in Palmyra Zenobia seemed blissfully unaware of the ire she had stirred in Rome. In fact the lands Zenobia had conquered were actually peaceful and it seems from the surviving accounts that she was erecting steles of Wahab-Allath detailing his reign and lineage all over her territory. Aurelian was always mentioned as being the sovereign of course. It is actually quite likely that Zenobia believed that Aurelian would be pleased with having his self still acknowledged as sovereign. If this is correct then Zenobia had the same flaw that brought down her ancestor, she was intoxicated with power. It is also possible that Zenobia was just naïve enough to think Aurelian would be content with his acknowledgement. In any case Zenobia had committed her fatal mistake. Aurelian, regardless of the real state of affairs surrounding Zenobia’s actions in 270 whatever they may be, would not brook any foreign ownership of Roman territory. In 272 after a brief stay in Rome Aurelian prepared to invade Palmyrene lands and take back the East. He arrived in short order in Byzantion then crossed the Straits of Mamara into Bithynia, which he steamrolled. To Zenobia’s credit, despite the shock of Aurelian’s sudden invasion she reacted quickly and dispatched Zabda, her star general, to Antioch to try to salvage the situation. Quite interestingly enough at this point a major change occurs in the Palmyrene coinage, Aurelian’s head is removed and replaced with Zenobia’s. In addition Wahab-Allath is shown with all the titles of a Roman Emperor, Zenobia with the titles of a Queen Mother. It is quite possible that Aurelian accidentally caused what was at best an unusual situation to worsen into a full fledged rebellion. Meanwhile Aurelian was making good progress, easily taking Ancrya. At this point he divided his forces and sent one wing of the army to reconquer Egypt. The other wing proceeded as planned to Tyana. Here the Romans encountered fierce resistance, and when the city fell Aurelian forbade any slaughter. It is probable that Aurelian realized that if he slaughtered the populace the whole of the East would unite behind Zenobia. The Tyana episode prompted Zenobia to take command herself, so she left Palmyra to go to Antioch to meet Zabda. The two armies would end up meeting at the plains before the small town of Immae, along the road to Antioch. There Zenobia, in her customary armor and undone hair, could be seen psyching her troops up before battle. The resulting battle of Immae would be a very close run affair. But in the end the Romans won the battle due to their iron discipline. The Palmyrene forces retreated to Antioch, and after reassuring the populace, made to Emesa. All along the space between Antioch and Emesa the cities welcomed the Romans with open arms. Finally Aurelian arrived at the city of Emesa. Once more Zenobia took to the field, but the Romans’ iron discipline once again brought them victory. Zenobia fled into Emesa, where a frantic council meeting was held. After some deliberation it was decided that the remnants of the Palmyrene army should fall back to Palmyra itself. So Zenobia fled, forcing herself to leave behind her considerable treasury in the process. Aurelian would keep on advancing from Emesa, and despite heavy guerilla attacks on the part of Zenobia’s desert allies he would lay siege to Palmyra. During this time Zenobia received startling news, Shapur, the Shahanshah of Sassanid Persia, was offering her refuge in Ctesiphon. No one knows what prompted Shapur to offer refuge to the widow of the man who humiliated him several times over, but he did. At the urging of her officials Zenobia decided to in the middle of the night to flee by camel with Wahab-Allath to Persia. However Zenobia would never reach her refuge, at the Euphrates she was captured by Roman cavalry and hauled to Emesa to be tried by Aurelian in court. In the trial Zenobia demanded that because she was a woman she be granted immunity from normal procedure. Aurelian, taken aback by Zenobia’s spunk, spared her from the executioner, though most of her court was not so lucky. In 274 AD Aurelian returned to Rome and he held a grand triumph to celebrate his victories of the past four years. Zenobia was made to take part in this triumph, shackled with golden chains (interestingly Aurelian wanted to parade Zenobia in a chariot, but she refused, so Aurelian made her walk instead). After the triumph Aurelian meant to kill Zenobia, but struck by her beauty and intelligence, decided to spare the Arab queen a second time. He built a lavish villa for Zenobia on the banks of the Tiber, near modern Tivoli. She would spend the rest of her life there, at one point marrying again. This insured the survival of Zenobia’s family well into the 5th century. In an unknown year at an unknown age Zenobia died peacefully. So died Zenobia, the warrior Queen of Palmyra.

In conclusion Zenobia is a very interesting historical figure. Zenobia undoubtedly stands tall among the personalities of the so called ‘Crises of the Third Century’ not only because she was a woman, for the ‘Crises’ was full of powerful women, but because of her warrior spirit, her intelligence, and her beauty. Today Zenobia is still a topic of study, as much about her remains a mystery, and perhaps always will.

[Biographies: Cleopatra VII]

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was the last of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt and lived in the 1st century B.C. She is also the most famous of the Ptolemys, due to the romanticism of her life and Hollywood movies.

Cleopatra was born somewhere between 70 and 69 B.C. Due to a degree of uncertainly regarding the date of her ascension the date of Cleopatra’s birth is somewhat hard to pin. At the most historians have given December, 70 B.C. or January, 69 as probable dates. Her father was Ptolemy XII Auletes and her mother was Cleopatra V Tryphaena. She had several siblings, these are: Berenice IV, Cleopatra VI, Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII, and Ptolemy XIV. One of the things that make Cleopatra distinctive is that unlike the rest of her family she devoted time to studying and learning other languages beside Koine Greek. She learned in time to read and write Egyptian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, Old Persian, Ethiopian, and a form of Somali.

Cleopatra became queen at a young age. In 51 B.C. Ptolemy XII Auletes died of an unknown illness in Alexandria. Because his two eldest children, Berenice IV and Cleopatra VI were dead Auletes was forced to appoint his next oldest child Cleopatra VII to rule in the stead of young Ptolemy XIII. To make sure that nothing went wrong Auletes arranged for their marriage to each other as his last act before death. Cleopatra was only 17 or 18 at the time of her crowning. Ptolemy XIII was only 15. Very early on in the joint reign Cleopatra would seemingly ignore her younger brother in all governmental affairs. All the coins had Cleopatra’s head on them, all the inscriptions have Cleopatra’s name on them. But nowhere is Ptolemy XIII’s name. Meanwhile Egypt could not blithely ignore the affairs of the surrounding nations, or to be more precise, Rome. In 49 B.C. Gnaeus Pompeius, the son of Pompey the Great arrived in Egypt looking for food and men to supply his father’s war against Caesar. Because Pompey was their protector when they were younger Cleopatra and Ptolemy allowed Pompeius into Egypt to gather what he needed (Cleopatra’s own writings note that she had her first affair with Pompeius, but this is probably just a fabrication on her part). When Pompeius left court intrigues in Egypt grew in size. The chief eunuch for Ptolemy XIII, Pothinus, as well as the boy’s teacher Theodotus, and Commander-in-chief Achillas feared that Cleopatra would depose Ptolemy and rule by herself. For these three this would have been disastrous, their power depended on Ptolemy XIII’s continued rule. So in 48 B.C. they engineered an uprising, saying that Cleopatra wished to kill Ptolemy. An Alexandrian mob (by now famous) rose up and chased the young queen out of the city and into the wilderness. But she would not wander for long, in time Cleopatra came upon a force of Arabs and convinced them through her speaking abilities to fight for her. In Alexandria the ministers had Achillas lead an army to Pelusium to block any attempts by Cleopatra to re-enter Egypt. But Roman affairs would once again intervene when Pompey himself came to Egypt following his defeat at Pharsalus. Pompey came ashore at Pelusium, where Ptolemy XIII was encamped. But he never got to see the young king. Pothinus knew that Pompey was losing the war, and seeking to appease Caesar, had Pompey murdered as he landed. When four days later Caesar landed at Alexandria he was horrified when presented with Pompey’s head and upon taking up residence at the Royal Palace demanded that both Ptolemy and Cleopatra appear before him. There were mass riots in Alexandria over Caesar’s actions, but in fact he was perfectly with in legal bounds to do what he did. In his will Ptolemy Auletes had named Rome as arbiter in any disputes amongst his children. When Cleopatra heard of what was happening in Alexandria she knew she had to get Caesar’s support, or Ptolemy would crush her. But Cleopatra feared that some lackey of Pothinus, Theodotus, and Achillas would kill her along the way. A member of Cleopatra’s court, Apollodorus of Sicily, came up with an idea to smuggle Cleopatra to Caesar by wrapping her into a silk carpet. Cleopatra agreed to the idea and made quite an impact on Caesar. He was struck, not by her physical beauty, but by her stunning intellect and musical voice. The two became lovers, though each with their own agenda. Caesar desired wealth and power, Cleopatra desired the means to restore her dynasty to its former glory. In a public ceremony Caesar forced Ptolemy and Cleopatra to reconcile their differences and rule once more together. But Pothinus knew this would spoil his plans so he, after getting Achillas’ army into Alexandria, started a war with Caesar. The conflict, known in modern accounts as the Alexandrine War, was one that was very hard fought almost exclusively in the streets of Alexandria. The fighting would be a test on Caesar’s abilities, as Roman legions were not meant to fight in the streets of a city. Eventually Caesar and Cleopatra are able to defeat Ptolemy XIII in one final battle near Lake Mareotis and return to Alexandria in January, 47 B.C. Because Ptolemy XIII drowned in the last battle and because Egypt would not accept a woman ruling alone it was up to Caesar to choose a new husband for Cleopatra. He chose Ptolemy XIV, just 12, to be Cleopatra’s new brother-husband. His work in Egypt was officially done; Caesar could have left for Rome right there and then. But he chose to stay in Egypt for the remainder of the winter, going on a Nile cruise (during which Caesar records the worship heaped on Cleopatra). When Caesar finally left in late March, 47 B.C. he left behind three legions to protect Cleopatra in Alexandria. As a final gift he also gave the island of Cyprus, long a Ptolemaic possession, to Egypt. Sometime later, around June according to historians, Cleopatra gave birth to a son. She proudly proclaimed the son was Caesar’s, and named him Ptolemy Caesar in her lover’s honor. But history records the boy by the pet name his mother bestowed on him, Caesarion, which means ‘little Caesar’. Many Alexandrians viewed the boy as a living dishonor to the memory of the first Ptolemy; others viewed him as a living remainder of how far they had fallen. Still others denied the boy was Caesar’s. Even today the dispute rages, though many historians regard Caesarion as a child of Caesar, if only because as a teen he displayed a remarkable similarity to Caesar (physically and mentally) at that age. In 46 B.C. Caesar, now the victor of the civil war and dictator of Rome invited Cleopatra to come to Rome itself for his triumph. She assented and brought along Ptolemy XIV and baby Caesarion, all under the guise of a diplomatic visit. When she arrived there was great fanfare and Caesar made sure that Cleopatra had a good view during the four day triumph he held in celebration of his final victory over the Pompey faction. At the end of the celebrations Caesar provided Cleopatra with a villa in his gardens on the other side of the Tiber from Rome. From her little villa Cleopatra held parties and a place in Roman high society, even though many aristocrats hated her and everything she stood for. Caesar did nothing to help things when he had a statue of Cleopatra installed the in the temple of Venus Genetrix and further more had the young baby Caesarion officially recognized as his son, though he refused to appoint the baby as his heir. In any case after this Cleopatra suffered a united snuffing from the Roman aristocracy. At this point modern historians believe Cleopatra hoped for a monarchy in Rome. With Caesar as Emperor and herself as Empress and their young son Caesarion as heir to an empire which controlled the entire world, as far as they knew. But it was not to be and perhaps fearing the same thing Cleopatra hoped for, Brutus and his fellow conspirators murdered Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 B.C. Fearing for her life and the life of her son Cleopatra fled within a day from Rome to the relative safety of Alexandria.

With her first lover dead Cleopatra would be forced to find other ways to restore her dynasty to its former glory. Upon return to Alexandria Cleopatra had plans laid for the poisoning of Ptolemy XIV, whom Cleopatra had begun to view as a nuisance. When Ptolemy XIV turned up dead one day Cleopatra declared that she would not marry again, but instead would elevate Caesarion, who was only 3, to the status of King and co-ruler. As king Caesarion was known as Ptolemy XV Caesar. Unlike with her brother-husbands Cleopatra shared the coins and inscriptions with Caesarion, and always issued decrees jointly in her name and her son’s. Meanwhile a new civil war had erupted in the Roman Republic, this time between Anthony and Octavian versus Brutus and Cassius. The civil war caused a lot of turmoil in Alexandria for the 3 legions Caesar left to guard Cleopatra where forced to leave. Many times both sides tried to elicit Cleopatra’s help, the Ptolemaic navy was one of the most powerful in the world at the time. But there was a reason for Cleopatra’s refusal. Her ability to regain her dynasty’s lost power lied in seducing the right man, she needed to wait and see who the victor was first. When Anthony and Octavian won the decisive battle of the civil war at Philippi they became the new rulers of the Roman world, and they were pretty upset at Cleopatra for not lending them aid. At Rome the new second triumvirate divided the Republic amongst themselves. Cleopatra knew the time was right, she waited for the opportunity. From his seat at Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, Marc Antony ordered Cleopatra to appear before him, to answer why she did not support the pro-Caesar forces in the late civil war. This was just what Cleopatra had hoped, for even though Octavian was Caesar’s heir he was little more then a boy, and a sick one at that. Anthony was the true successor of Caesar, and the just the man for Cleopatra to use for her purposes. The first meeting of Marc Anthony and Cleopatra has been much romanticized and mystified over the years, but some of the myth does have truth behind it. When called by Anthony, Cleopatra deliberately delayed the meeting before setting sail on her royal barge and slowly going up the Cydnus River into Tarsus. Cleopatra had come to Tarsus with the singular purpose of gaining a new lover, and that she did, Anthony fell for her like a ton of bricks. The relationship between Marc Anthony and Cleopatra was different from the one with Caesar. In this new affair while Cleopatra was after the same thing she was during the affair with Caesar, the power to restore her dynasty, Anthony was in it not for money or power or anything like that. Marc Anthony was in the affair due to simple lust, he boasted about it to Octavian several times in fact, and much to Octavian’s disgust. At one point Anthony did get down to the reason why he called Cleopatra out of Egypt. To which Cleopatra had a finely crafted excuse, she had meant to use her fleet to help the pro-Caesar cause but the weather was awful and she came down with a cold. At the end of the interview Anthony went with Cleopatra back to Alexandria to spend the winter (41-40 B.C.). Over the course of the winter Anthony indulged in a wild life of pleasure in Alexandria, utterly forgetting the outside world in the process. For Cleopatra this meant that unlike with the affair with Caesar, where both participants were equal, this new affair with Anthony would have Cleopatra squarely at the head. Marc Anthony was a pliable puppet for her to get what she wanted out of Rome, and she would use this to her best advantage. In the spring of 40 B.C. Marc Anthony left Alexandria for pressing matters in Rome, not to return for some time. Somewhere around mid 40 Cleopatra gave birth again, this time to twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. Of course she immediately claimed these were Marc Anthony’s children, and unlike with Caesarion no one doubts the claimed paternity. Later that year the neighboring King Herod made a visit to Egypt. Herod the Great was the Roman client king in Judea, and also the richest and most powerful amongst the client rulers of Rome. Judea was also a land that traditionally belonged to the Ptolemies, so Cleopatra tried to seduce him. But Herod seemed to be immune to Cleopatra’s charm, and for that she would swear to destroy him. In 37 B.C. Marc Anthony was in Syria leading the war effort against the Parthians. He needed money badly for his campaign so, knowing how rich Cleopatra was, he sent for her to meet him. In Syria Anthony and Cleopatra restarted their infamous affair and Anthony was introduced to the twins, whom he immediately recognized as his children and heirs. It would be during this time that Marc Anthony would take the fatal step that doomed him. In utter disregard to his still living second wife, Octavia (the sister of Octavian), Anthony married Cleopatra in a Egyptian ceremony. In Rome this news angered the Senate and Octavian more then they could bare. In Roman law a man cannot marry someone else while his wife is still living; furthermore no marriage outside Roman tradition is valid in Roman eyes. For Octavian this move was personally insulting, Octavia was his sister and to marry another woman while she still lived was an insult he, as her brother, could not forgive or forget. Meanwhile in Syria Anthony was blissfully unaware of the enemies he had made and Cleopatra gave birth to another child, Ptolemy XVI Philadelphus. Shortly after this Cleopatra deemed the time right to take her revenge on Herod. She asked Anthony to oust the Idumean from his throne and give Judea to her. But Herod was far too valuable to Rome to oust, even for Cleopatra. In order to sooth Cleopatra, who was very angry about being denied, Anthony lavished on her bits and pieces of land in the surrounding area. Chalcis ( a region near Lebanon), the Phoenician coastline from Eleutherus to Sidon, a strip of land rich in cedars in Cilicia, and the balsam groves near Jericho were all bestowed on Cleopatra by Anthony. After Anthony finally left Syria to make war on the Parthians Cleopatra decided to make a tour of her presents from Anthony. When she arrived to view her balsam groves near Jericho she was received by Herod. During the extent of her stay the two monarchs were sickeningly sweet to each other, even though they both hated the other with a passion. Cleopatra made things worse by sticking her fingers into Herod’s family troubles, hoping that one of her plots would result in Herod’s death. Meanwhile Anthony’s war against Parthia had resulted in a dismal failure, and was holding on to Syria by the skin of his teeth. For the next two years Cleopatra would support two further expeditions by Anthony. Finally in 34 B.C. Anthony scored a victory by conquering Armenia. At Cleopatra’s request the triumph was held in Alexandria. Never before, and never again, had a triumph been held in any city but Rome. The news of the triumph in Alexandria would further scandalize the relationship between Anthony and Cleopatra, and put another nail in their coffin. Later that year the famous ‘Donation of Alexandria’ was read to the crowds of the city. Seated on golden thrones with Caesarion, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy Philadelphus, Anthony and Cleopatra made a joint decree. Cleopatra and Caesarion were reaffirmed as the joint rulers of Egypt, but with new titles. Caesarion was proclaimed King of Kings and his mother Queen of Kings. Furthermore Anthony decreed Caesarion the rightful heir of Caesar, displacing Octavian. Alexander Helios was proclaimed Great King of Armenia, Media, and Persia. Ptolemy Philadelphus was proclaimed King of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Lastly Cleopatra Selene was proclaimed Queen of Cyrenaica and Libya. Meanwhile in Rome this was the last straw, Anthony’s outrageous behavior had reached new heights. Octavian itched to declare war on Egypt, but Octavia was still legally married to Anthony, so he could not claim to be avenging her dishonor, and there was no real way to verify that the ‘Donation of Alexandria’ was real and not a rumor. But Cleopatra would play right into Octavian’s hands. In 32 B.C. Anthony and Cleopatra, who had gathered an army and navy, moved their forces to Greece with headquarters in Athens. From there, and at Cleopatra’s behest, Anthony formally divorced Octavia and married Cleopatra in a legal Roman ceremony. This shocked Rome and Octavian broke into the temple of the Vestal Virgins and removed Anthony’s will. The will verified all of Anthony’s doting on Cleopatra and the ‘Donation of Alexandria’, which were thus far believed to be only rumors. After stripping Anthony of his Consulship the Senate declared war on Cleopatra. In Athens the officers of Anthony prepared for war and Cleopatra was called on to return home to Egypt until the end of the conflict. But she refused and still carried on with her previous partying behavior. This unconcern on Cleopatra’s part alienated several officers of Anthony and they defected to Octavian. Many historians have regarded this as Cleopatra’s fatal mistake, it is possible that the wild lifestyle she lead with Anthony was affecting her intellectual skills. In any case the forces of Anthony and Cleopatra faced off against the forces of Octavian and the Senate at Actium on September 31st, 31 B.C. There are two views regarding the battle of Actium. One is that Cleopatra saw that the battle was going against her so she, and the sizable Ptolemaic contingent, fled the battle and Anthony followed after her like a lovesick puppy. The second view is that Anthony realized he could not win the battle so he had Cleopatra sent away with himself following after her a little later. In any case the forces of Anthony and Cleopatra lost the battle of Actium and Octavian followed them back to Egypt. In 30 B.C. Octavian entered Egypt and swept away all opposition to him. At Pelusium, the last guard to Alexandria, the garrison surrendered to the victorious Octavian. In Alexandria, Cleopatra, together with her manicurist and hairdresser, barricaded herself inside her mausoleum. Cleopatra realized that the only chance she had was to seduce Octavian like she had his grand-uncle Caesar. But first she had to get rid of Anthony so she had news leaked that she was dead, Anthony there after . When Octavian entered Alexandria as a conqueror on August 1, 30 B.C. Cleopatra came out of hiding and met with him. She tried to seduce him as she had Caesar and Anthony, but as with Herod she failed miserably. Octavian would not be seduced; he was determined to display Cleopatra in his triumph. But Cleopatra would not relegate herself to this, so on August 12 she with a Cobra (not an Asp as the popular story goes). So died Cleopatra, the last Ptolemy, at the age of 39.

In conclusion Cleopatra is an interesting and tragic figure in history. In the immeadiate aftermath of Cleopatra’s death Octavian incorporated Egypt into the Roman Republic, which ended when after his triumph Octavian was made Princeps Senatus (Latin: First Citizen) for life and given the new name Augustus Caesar. As for Cleopatra’s children Augustus had Caesarion killed before he had a chance to become a threat. Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy Philadelphus were all adopted by Octavia, who raised them as though they were her own. As time passed Cleopatra’s life, and in particular her affair with Marc Antony, became mystified by romance writers and in time Cleopatra would become a favored subject of Hollywood movies. Until very recently it was tradition for the most beautiful actress of the day to play Cleopatra. So in closing Cleopatra was a cunning woman who controlled some of the most powerful men of her day, but in the end was destroyed because she reached too far, too fast.

[Today is my 19th Birthday!]

Alright everyone I am back! I got back yesterday, but I was pretty tired and it was late. I had wonderful time down south, got to shop at my favorite stores and eat out at my favorite restraunts. Though my Dad nearly embrassed me in one restraunt with his horrible off key catawauling (he does it on purpose, he can sing). For Presents I got:

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

Star Wars: Republic Commando, Hard Contact

Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory

Age of Empires III

and

Civ IV

[Today is my 19th Birthday!]

Yep you heard it right today is my birthday today! My 19th birthday and in celebration my parents are taking me to Bay City for the weekend, starting today! WWWWHHHHOOOO!!!

[Biographies: Britomartus]

Britomartus was a Gallic Celt chieftan who lead the Insubrians in the 3rd century B.C. Due to the next to none solid historical sources on this man the following is mostly conjuncture on the part of the author.

Nobody knows when Britomartus was born. Due to the fact we know little on Britomartus his date of birth is sadly unknown. A well educated guess would put his place of birth at Mediolanium, since that city was the capital of the Insubrians. His father, who was undoubtedly the chieftan of the Insubrians, is unknown. His mother is also unknown.

It is not known when Britomartus became chieftan. Britomartus became chieftan at an unknown date, succeeding his father. We do not know when he became chieftan so it is hard to know how long he had ruled before riding to his death at Clastidum. If we assume that he became chieftan before the start of the war with Rome then we can assume that Britomartus was the one who cautioned his people not to wage war while Rome and Carthage battled in the First Punic War. We know for certain that despite the great hatred the Insubrians had for Rome, since Rome took some of their land from them, their chieftan had cautioned his people patience, so that they would know what strength Rome would have when the war finished. When the First Punic War ended in 243 B.C. it is entirely possible that Britomartus was the chieftan that called in the Gaesatae from across the Alps. The Gaesatae, as far as we know, are mercenaries from several different tribes banded together in a single group. Following this train of thought Britomartus was also the one who gather all Insubrians eligible to fight into an army. For the next twenty something years Romans and Insubrians faced off in a cold war. Then around the early 220s the Romans led a preemptive strike on the Insubrians. Britomartus rallied his people and stalemated Rome. This led to little progress until the Roman Consuls Flaminius and Furius attacked the Insubrians and defeated them, allowing the Romans to rampage across the Po valley. For Britomartus this was a humiliating defeat, even if he did not lead his troops himself. Quite possibly concerned for the safety of the women and children of his tribe, or perhaps just the whole tribe in general, Britomartus sent a peace delegation to Rome to ask for peace. Probably over the objections of the Gaesatae, whose bloodlust is well known. Because of the popular outcry against the treaty, caused by Marcellus no less, the Senate sent the treaty back with a firm no. Britomartus was probably angry at being rejected, and could have prepared to attack. Even if did not want to attack the Romans he was forced into it by the Gaesatae who attacked Acerrae. Britomartus, following the Gaesatae’s lead attacked the Roman fortress at Clastidum. The Roman Consuls, Marcellus and Scipio Calvus, reacted swiftly and marched north. Britomartus was probably in the mist of planning when word reached him that a small Roman force had come. In the mindset of the Gallic Celt for an enemy to send so small a force as Marcellus fielded against Britomartus was an insult. Perhaps to prove his strength as a warrior, and possibly to show his might to his men, Britomartus decided to quash the Roman force with only his cavalry. So he attacked the Roman line, which was outstretched to such a degree that it could not have held under much pressure. As soon as the battle was joined Britomartus began to search for a man he could fight. In the Celtic mentality a king could only fight another of his rank and gain glory. For this reason Britomartus sought out Marcellus and challenged him, according to the ancient sources by reviling him. Marcellus, unbeknownst to Britomartus an excellent duelist, accepted the challenge and rode up to Britomartus and killed him in three strokes, once with a spear and two times with a sword. The ancient historians justify this by stating that Britomartus’ armor was not very tough. According to the accounts the armor Britomartus wore was made of gold and silver beaten together and inlaid with precious jewels. His sword and spear were similarly adorned. Modern historians have come to doubt that the duel was that easy, due to in part its propagandistic air. So died Britomartus, the last chieftan of the Insubrians, at an unknown age.

In conclusion Britomartus had a greater impact after death then in life. Following his defeat of Britomartus Marcellus went on to defeat the Insubrian peoples, making Britomartus their last king. In his triumph Marcellus displayed for all to see the armor of Britomartus, which was locked up in a temple of Iupiter after the festivities. Because Marcellus received the highest honor a Roman could gain for slaying Britomartus stories began to grow up around him. By the time of the Late Republic and into the early days of the Empire the stories about Britomartus had transformed him into an evil giant. In any case Britomartus is an interesting, but shrouded figure, in the history of the Gauls and their wars with Rome.

[Biographies: Marcus Claudius Marcellus]

Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Latin: the Martial) was a Roman general of the Punic Wars era. Later Romans called Marcellus the “Sword of Rome” a well deserved title.

Marcellus’ date of birth is unknown. The year in which Marcellus was born has been unfortunately lost; we do know he was probably born in Rome itself. His father was Marcus Claudius and his mother is unknown. Of his early life not much is known of Marcellus. However it is recorded that Marcellus took interest in war at an early age.

The first combat Marcellus would see would be in Sicily. In 264 B.C. Rome and Carthage, who had been allies in the fight against Pyrrhos several decades ago, went to war over a dispute on the ownership of the island of Sicily. Marcellus took part in this war, later known as the First Punic War. During the fighting on Sicily Marcellus distinguished himself as a swordsman, fighting many foes one-on-one. However Marcellus’ greatest feat in the First Punic War was not a one-on-one but saving his brother Otacilius, which in the process of he displayed extraordinary bravery and skill. For this action the generals in command lavished on Marcellus numerous rewards for bravery, heroism, and skill. Due to these awards Marcellus was made a curule aedile (an aedile which was allowed to sit in the x shaped seat of judgment called the curule and wear a special toga), which was the first step in the political ladder for a patrician youth, upon his return to Rome. Marcellus was also made an auger (a priest in charge of reading the future).

The exact starting date of Marcellus’ political career is unknown. As mentioned above Marcellus began his career in politics through his election to the curule aedileship, however we do not know when this happened, just that it occurred while the First Punic War was still raging. According to Plutarch during the aedileship Marcellus’ son Marcus was abused by a senator named Capitolinus. When Marcus told his father of what was happening he brought charges against Capitolinus before the Senate. After a long drawn out affair Capitolinus was removed from the Senate and fined. Marcellus surprisingly melted the money down and made silverware from it. After his year as curule aedile was up Marcellus just disappeared for some time, during which he probably held a praetorship (he must have given what happens later on).

In 243 B.C. the First Punic War came to an end and a new one started. In the Alps the Gallic Celts stirred up and the Insubrians, who lived in the Po valley, began to gather forces. For the Romans, who had never forgotten the sack of their city by Brennus, this was cause to fear. For some twenty odd years the Romans and Gauls faced off with each other in a cold war, neither making a move. Finally in the early 220’s B.C., late 230’s (exact date not known) the Romans acted launching a preemptive strike on the Insubrians. The war stalemated almost as soon as it started, neither side made any progress. In 223 B.C. the Consul Gaius Flaminius, along with fellow Consul Furius departed from Rome to attempt to force entry into the Insubrian heartland in the Po valley. However in Rome the augers declared the time for an offensive was not right and the Senate, in a flurry of hurry, sent letters recalling Flaminius. But Flaminius ignored the letters and attacked the Insubrians, winning a massive victory over them and allowing the Roman army to lay waste to the country side. When Flaminius and Furius returned to Rome with the spoils of war and news of great victory the Senate, which was mighty sore with Flaminius for ignoring a direct order, almost did not give him the triumph he deserved. As it turned out Flaminius’ triumph would be a rather pitiful affair, as many Romans feared divine retribution for Flaminius’ disregard of the omens and so did not come out to celebrate. As soon as the festivities concluded the Senate sacked Flaminius and Furius as Consuls so that the new Consuls when chosen would enter office earlier then usual the following year. When the new Consuls entered office on March 15th, 222 B.C. Marcellus was one of them. Unlike most Consuls Marcellus was not elected, but because of the circumstances was chosen by the Interrexes, or substitute Consuls. Upon being chosen Marcellus was allowed to close his fellow Consul, he chose Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus (the uncle of Africanus). The choice turned out to popular with the people and the Senate heaved a sigh of relief. Not long after this a delegation arrived from the Insubrians. They wished to surrender to Rome and end the war. For Marcellus this was unacceptable, he wanted unconditional surrender. But when the Senate appeared to be ignoring him and Calvus he decided to inflame the common people against the treaty, forcing the Senate to reject the peace overtures. If there was any unease over this it was quickly dispelled when the Gaesatae, mercenaries working with the Insubrians, surged out and attacked the Roman city of Acerrae. The Insubrians, under their king Britomartus followed after, and ravaged the countryside. Marcellus reacted swiftly and with Calvus in tow sped north. Along the way news reached Marcellus and Calvus that Britomartus was attacking the fortress of Clastidum. Marcellus decided to divide the army up with Calvus taking the majority of the army to relieve Acerrae and push into the Po valley while Marcellus with some cavalry and 600 hundred light infantry would rush to Clastidum. After arrival at the fortress Marcellus had his troops rest up and wait for the Gallic reaction. In the Insubrian camp Britomartus could hardly believe the comparably puny Roman force sent against him. He decided to crush the Roman force immediately and as a display of skill he would use only his cavalry. For the Romans this was bad, even the Insubrian cavalry alone outnumbered their whole force and the Roman citizen cavalry, the equites, would not stand a chance even on equal terms. So Marcellus in an attempt to prevent his army from being surrounded and cut off stretched out his ranks as far as possible with out losing cohesion. During the messy melee that followed, Britomartus, seeking out a opponent that was of equal or near equal status to himself, saw Marcellus and called him out to duel. For Marcellus, who excelled at one-on-one fights, this was a great opportunity to end the battle. According to the ancient sources the fight was over as soon as it Marcellus rode up to Britomartus. Because apparently Britomartus’ armor was not very tough at all. According to the ancient sources Britomartus’ armor was made from gold and silver inlaid with precious jewels. Even his sword and spear where covered in finery. In any case Marcellus accepted Britomartus’ challenge and rode up to him. Marcellus then ran Britomartus through his ornate breastplate and finished him with two swipes with a sword. When the Insubrians noticed their king dead they began to rout, allowing the equites to slaughter them by dozens, perhaps hundreds (the sources are not clear). In any case after loading up on as much war booty as was humanly possible Marcellus and army departed Clastidum to link up with Calvus. Calvus meanwhile had rescued Acerrae and chased the Gaesatae all the way to the Insubrian capital at what was later known as Mediolanium (modern Milan). There Calvus encountered trouble; Mediolanium would be a tough nut to crack. However when the news arrived that Britomartus had been slain, followed by his slayer’s arrival the Gaesatae and the Insubrians surrendered, ending the war. Before he left Marcellus founded a colonia at what is now Cremona, just in case. Upon the return to Rome of the conquerors there was a grand triumph, one of the most resplendent in all of Roman history. The Senate decreed that Marcellus alone was responsible for the victory and that further more the greatest honor to be bestowed upon a Roman would be bestowed upon Marcellus. This was the Spolia Opimia (Latin: Supreme Spoils) which was awarded only when a ruler of Rome kills the king of a foreign nation on the field of battle. The Spolia Opimia was only given three times in Roman history: The first to Romulus for slaying Acron, the king of the Caeninenses, the second to Cornelius Cossus for slaying Toluminius, king of the Etruscans, and then Marcellus for slaying Britomartus, king of the Insubrians. After Marcellus no other Roman won the Spolia Opimia (many historians consider Romulus and Cossus to be only myths, making in some circles Marcellus the only man to win the Spolia Opimia). Marcellus could have very well retired at this point from public life, but he did not and so much more awaited him.

After his greatest triumph Marcellus disappears for some time. Maybe due to the mob attention he attracted like flies or some other unknown reason there is no recorded mention of Marcellus for the 4 years between 222 and 218. In 218 B.C. after the break out of the Second Punic War the Senate, which believed that the Carthaginians would attack Sicily appointed Marcellus as an admiral to guard the seas. But that was not the Carthaginian plan at all and instead Hannibal led his army from Spain through the Alps and into Italy, bringing the fight to Rome. Marcellus would stay with his fleet at port in Sicily till 216 when after the disastrous defeats at Lake Trasimene and Cannae Marcellus sent 1,500 marines to Rome for the protection of that city then raced to Canusium, where the remnants of the army that fought at Cannae had fled. By decree of the Senate, Marcellus (though he was just a praetor) was given authority over all of the soldiers in and around Canusium. From there he reformed the soldiers into a cohesive force and used them to keep Hannibal from ravaging the countryside. He also dispatched some troops to reinforce Naples and Nola, which he defended most fiercely. In 215 the people, tired of the delaying tactics of Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator elected Marcellus as Consul for the second time. It was at this time that a saying arose that Fabius was Rome’s shield, Marcellus was her sword. Unfortunately the augers decreed that because there was a lot of thunder and lightning the day of Marcellus’ election was not legitimate. To the dismay of the people Marcellus resigned as Consul, but on the condition he be allowed to retain his military command. The Senate agreed to the terms and accepted the resignation, making Marcellus a Proconsul. He went to Nola and prepared to use it as a base to harass Hannibal. For the rest of 215 Marcellus fought against Hannibal’s rearguard using hit and run tactics, causing the Carthaginians a lot trouble. The greatest victory of Marcellus’ time in Nola though was when he caused some of Hannibal’s trusted Iberian and Numidian horseman to surrender and work for Rome, a victory that prove most useful in the future. In 214 B.C. because of his excellent use of Nola as a means to harass Hannibal’s rear Marcellus was elected Consul a third time. His first action was to take an army and march south, fighting and defeating a Carthaginian force defending Casilinum, resulting in the fall of that city. This was done in an attempt to co-ordinate with the Scipios in Spain, who were fighting in the bread basket of Hannibal. With the fall of Casilinum the Carthaginians were forced into a southward retreat and for this Marcellus was awarded a second triumph. In early 213 the Senate dispatched Marcellus to Sicily, to prevent a Carthaginian takeover. Things were not good in Sicily; Syracuse was in revolt due to the murder of Tyrant (Tyrant was the title of the leaders of Syracuse) Hieronymus and word got out that he had been secretly aiding Hannibal. Marcellus knew he was going to have to hurry in order to keep things in Syracuse from spiraling out of control. But, in the first such case of his life, Marcellus arrived too late stop the anti-Rome party, led by Hippocrates (not the doctor) from gaining control of the government. In a fury over being unable to stop the loss of the city to Carthage, and also at Hippocrates for killing a number of Roman prisoners at Leontini, Marcellus attacked. The focus of which was the town of Leontini. After the town’s fall Marcellus had 2,000 pro-Carthage Syracusans beaten and beheaded. This move would prove to alienate Syracuse and remove any prior chance of negotiation he might have had. Marcellus decamped quickly from Leontini and rushed to Syracuse, cutting it off by land. In vain Marcellus sent a delegation to Syracuse, telling them he had killed no Syracusan, just some deserters. But no one was fooled by his honeyed words. Thus the long siege of Syracuse began in earnest. Marcellus would leave his fellow commander, Appius Claudius Pulcher, in command by land while Marcellus commanded the navy. Syracuse was believed by many to be uncapturable, not even Athens could do it. But Marcellus was determined with his huge army to break the great walls of Syracuse and take the city. But the city was ready for him. During the reign of Tyrant Hieron II not only was Syracuse’s walls expanded but a number of advanced machines were installed in them. These defense weapons were invented by Archimedes, a brilliant mathematician and inventor. Amongst Archimedes’ machines were a variety of catapults capable of throwing many different kinds of projectiles at different distances and a tower that contained a set of mirrors that could be used to focus a beam of light as weapon to destroy a ship. No matter how close the Romans came to the walls the fire from Archimedes’ machines just kept coming and the soldiers began to think that they were not fighting with human beings. Marcellus meanwhile finally realized that he can not carry Syracuse by assault and so places his hope in starving out the city. By now Marcellus’ term as Consul had long since been up, but the Senate knew to remove him from the field was a bad idea, so they made him a Proconsul. Meanwhile the rest of Sicily was falling to Carthage and Marcellus sent some groups to contest the Carthaginian control, resulting in the capture of Megara and Acilae and several other cities. One interesting incident that happened at Syracuse during this time was when a Spartan man tried to break through the Roman blockade. The man, whose name was Damippus, was captured by a Roman ship. For reasons unknown the Syracusans asked for a temporary ceasefire and negotiations for Damippus’ release. During one such parley Marcellus, who insisted on doing these things himself, noticed a weakness in Syracuse’s outer defenses. The following year, 212, Marcellus made preparations to exploit the weakness. During a festival celebrating the Greco-Roman goddess of the hunt, Diana, Marcellus snuck through the weakness and into the city, occupying it up to an area called the Hexapylum. When the Syracusans, still recovering from the previous night’s drunken binging, discovered what had happened it threw the city into a panic. Many citizens attempted to escape the Roman occupied areas to the inner fortress, called the Acradina. Now Marcellus had a problem on his hands, for all intents and purposes he had conquered Syracuse and his men were itching for plunder. But Marcellus, quite unusually, initially forbade any attempts to let his men run wild. After much persuasion Marcellus relented, allowing one day for his men to do as they pleased. However there was one proviso, not one Syracusan was allowed to be harmed. So the men ran wild in Syracuse, not heeding Marcellus’ order to not harm anyone. The most famous victim of the sack of Syracuse was Archimedes, the inventor of all the machines that caused such trouble for the Romans. During the course of all this Marcellus noticed the great number of art pieces adorning Syracuse and decided to carry them off to Rome. No one in Rome proper had seen Greek art before, and in the department of artistic beauty Rome was lacking sorely. So Marcellus took most of the art pieces from Syracuse to Rome to beautify that city. So Marcellus left, leaving Appius with the job of finishing the siege (which would last till 211). When Marcellus came near Rome he learned the Senate wished to give him a third triumph. He refused, telling the Senate that a third triumph would arouse jealousy against him. Marcellus would settle for being able to dedicate a temple and an ovation instead though.

Having conquered the unconquerable city Marcellus again seemed to vanish. From 212 to 210 Marcellus again drops from the radar, probably in a state of semi-retirement. In 210 he is elected Consul for the fourth time, his popularity is so great. Not long after coming into office Marcellus went southwards again, to fight against the Samnites. The Samnites had, with help from Hannibal, revolted against Rome. Marcellus was able to defeat them without too much trouble; however the defeat of a Roman army led by Gnaeus Fulvius in Apulia did not allow Marcellus to rest upon his laurels. He marched south and came across a Carthaginian army at Numistro. This army was lead by Hannibal himself. Both men respected each other and considered it an honor to fight the other. The two armies fought the entire day and most of the night and on the morning of the second day of battle Marcellus attempted to pick up where they left off the previous day. But Hannibal declined and retreated. Marcellus attempted to follow Hannibal but would never catch him; he would spend the rest of his term as Consul chasing Hannibal in a game of ambush, skirmish. By the time the term was up the Senate deemed Numistro such a victory that Marcellus’ field command should be prolonged. Meanwhile Quintus Fulvius Flaccus is named Dictator, and he gives Marcellus the post of Proconsul and a license to go after Hannibal another year (209). The chase continued and every time Marcellus seemed to have Hannibal the man managed to escape. A few time they clashed and Hannibal and Marcellus won an equal share of victories over the other. But there was nothing really conclusive and after being unable to win a victory at Venusia he is recalled to Rome. Despite this Marcellus’ popularity propels him to an unheard of fifth Consulate in 208 B.C. A revolt erupts in Etruria to the north almost as soon as Marcellus entered office. After crushing it he wanted to dedicate another temple, but the priests objected. Marcellus promised to build a small shrine connected to the temple, and the priests calmed down. After sorting out that mess Marcellus departed for Venusia a second time with his fellow Consul for that year, Quinctius Crispinus, having heard that Hannibal was still around. After a series of ambushes confirmed Hannibal’s presence Marcellus, along with Crispinus and some others, decided to go out on a recon mission to scout the terrain. While out scouting a group of Carthaginians sprung an ambush on the Consular party, during the fighting Marcellus was struck down and killed. So died Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the Sword of Rome, at an unknown age.

In conclusion Marcellus was a great general. In the immediate aftermath of Marcellus’ death Hannibal saw to it that the body was given full honors according to a man of his stature and buried. Hannibal also took off some of Marcellus’ personal effects and put them into a gold urn to be sent to Marcellus’ son Marcus, who had them buried. Due to his great battlefield victories the family of Marcellus remained a great family even into the days of the empire. Every aspiring Roman general after Marcellus held themselves up to him and Fabius Cunctator as the model of Roman leadership. In a way not even Caesar surpassed Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the Sword of Rome.

[Biographies: Caradoc]

Caradoc was a Brythonic king of the Catuvellauni tribe of the 1st century AD. He is known as the First British Hero in Great Britain, especially amongst the Welsh. Caradoc is also believed to have had ties with the early Christian movement.

Sadly we do not know much about Caradoc’s early life. Due to the scanty record keeping of the Brythonic Celts we do not know when Caradoc was born. However guesses by historians place the location at Camulodunum (modern Colchester). His father was Cunobelinus or Cynfelyn, the First British Statesman. His mother is unknown. Caradoc was the youngest of his father’s children. From his later actions we can surmise that Caradoc and his elder brother Togodumnus became close in childhood while he had a falling out with his eldest brother Adminius.

We get our first mention of Caradoc around 25 AD. From the records we can gather that Caradoc was the favored nephew of Epaticcus, the younger brother of Cunobelinus. When Cunobelinus sought to expand his territory in the mid 20s AD Caradoc volunteered to accompany uncle Epaticcus in his war against Verica of the Atrebates. The campaign was a success, culminating with the fall of the Atrebatean capital of Calleva (modern Silchester). For the next ten years Epaticcus and Caradoc ruled the conquered Atrebatean lands jointly, with Caradoc being allowed to mint his own coins from Calleva. In 35 AD Epaticcus died and in the resulting division of power by Cunobelinus Caradoc was granted his uncle’s former lands. Verica took the opportunity to launch an attack and despite a spirited defense on the part of Caradoc some of the land was lost to the Atrebates. About this time Cunobelinus began to make public his disapproval of Caradoc and Togodumnus’ involvement with the Druids. The Druids, the native priesthood of the Brythonic Celt religion, were anti-Rome and this was why Caradoc and his brother associated with them. Unlike their elder brother Adminius, who in his own little princedom in Cantium (modern Kent) lived like a Roman (even eating and dressing like one), or their own father Caradoc and Togodumnus had no love of Rome or anything Roman. They resented the fact that Cunobelinus held a Roman title and that the Romans seemed to exercise a degree of remote control over them. An alliance with the Druids was a powerful way to state so. In 40 AD Cunobelinus suffered a stroke rendering him unable to rule. Caradoc and Togodumnus reacted quickly and were able to seize control of the Catuvellauni before Adminius. Togodumnus, despite being older, deferred their near rulership to Caradoc. For his first action Caradoc issued a false decree from Cunobelinus depriving Adminius of his lands and banishing him from the lands of the Catuvellauni. The decree bestowed the former lands of Adminius on Caradoc. Soon after assuming rulership of Cantium news reached Caradoc that Adminius had fled to Rome and recruited the aid of the mad emperor Gaius Caligula. Togodumnus and Caradoc jointly prepared to defend after a large invasion army was sighted in Gaul. But it turns out to be a false alarm for at the last minute the army starts to collect seashells instead. Caradoc does not let down his guard and he continues to keep an active defense until his father’s death in 42 AD. The whole of Southeastern Britain mourns the passing of Cunobelinus and Togodumnus becomes the new king. However Caradoc is the one who holds real power. With the blessings of his brother Caradoc set out in mid 42 AD (an approximate guess by historians) to wage war against Verica and the Atrebates. Caradoc is relentless against his foe and with the help of the Durotriges and Dobunni he conquers the Atrebates by year’s end. In victory Caradoc sets up his capital near modern Guilford and begins to mint coins there. However the celebration would not last for long.

Meanwhile Verica had fled from Britain and gone to Rome where a new emperor ruled. Back in 41 AD Caligula was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard and his uncle, the aging Claudius, was installed in the purple. Claudius needed a military campaign or some other comparable event to gain glory and to prove himself to Rome that he could rule. Verica’s arrival and Adminius’ own pleas convinced Claudius that this was just what he needed. So in 43 AD Claudius Caesar sent an invasion force consisting of four legions (Legio IX Hispana, Legio II Augusta, Legio XIV Gemina, and Legio XX Valeria Victrix) and 20,000 auxiliary troops under the command of Aulus Plautius. Meanwhile Togodumnus and Caradoc prepare to defend, forming an alliance of tribes to fight the Romans. At first the Romans encounter success defeating a number of skirmishing parties sent by Caradoc to test them. Unfortunately for the Catuvellauni the Dobunni defect to the Romans which results in a major blow to morale and troop numbers. Caradoc and Togodumnus then decided to pull their forces back to the River Medway and group their united armies there. Caradoc was hoping that the Medway would provide a trap to catch the Romans in and massacre, seeing how that with their armor crossing the river without a bridge was suicide. But the Romans, in a moment of ingenuity that surprised even their own historians, dispatched a special light swimmer unit across the Medway to attack the horses of the Brythonic chariots. In the uproar this caused the Roman center led by Legio II under the future emperor Vespasian crossed the Medway and attacked. However in a testament to Caradoc and Togodumnus’ skills at leadership the Brythonic forces rallied and fought the Romans to a stalemate, causing them to retreat at nightfall. The next day G. Hosidius Geta led the attack and was defeated by Caradoc, and nearly captured in the retreat. But Geta did not give up and in the second attack Geta’s troops were a key element in routing the Brythonic army. One of the many casualties was Togodumnus, who had been cut down by a Roman. Caradoc, from the new Brythonic camp along the Thames swore revenge. But he was denied that when the Romans defeated him in battle along the river. Now realizing that with the main alliance army twice defeated and broken and with the capital of Camulodunum in danger the best thing to do would be to evacuate. So after returning home with Togodumnus’ body Caradoc announced that for the safety of the people the old lands of the Catuvellauni must be abandoned to the invaders. However the people would not leave their homes, so only Caradoc’s own family and retinue left Camulodunum for the rugged mountains of what is now Wales.

Having been forced out of his own home Caradoc continued the fight in Wales. Upon arrival in the mountains Caradoc discovered that his reputation had made him famous and one by one the Welsh tribes (the Silures, Demetae, Ordovices, and Deceangli) swore allegiance to him. In Wales Caradoc bided his time to strike back for several years and once Plautius left Britain in 47 AD Caradoc knew the time was right. At the head of the Silures Caradoc led a series of lightning raids into Roman territory as far as modern Gloucestershire. For the new Roman governor, Ostorius Scapula, this was to the mark the beginning of a several year long headache that would last his career. To try to remedy the problem Scapula had Legio XX Valeria Victrix stationed at Glevum (modern Gloucester) as a guard along the lower Severn River. Scapula then had a colonia (a group of retired veterans and their families) established at Camulodunum and after making sure everything was secure Scapula dispatched Legio II Augusta into Wales. Caradoc heard of the invasion and moved his base of operations out of Siluran land in southern Wales to the land of the Ordovices in mid Wales. Scapula responded by building a new camp at Viroconium and stationing Legio XIV Gemina there. Caradoc would continue to raid the Romans for the next several years, and Scapula would keep failing to catch him. Finally in mid 50 AD Scapula caught Caradoc, who was traveling with his family, and his army off guard at a place called Caer Caradoc (Welsh: Caradoc’s Fort). In the ensuing battle despite having to fight uphill the Romans defeat the Brythonic forces and capture Caradoc’s family as well as force the surrender of his other surviving brothers (who were never mentioned by any records before this point). However Caradoc himself disappears seemingly from the face of the earth. The fact was that Caradoc had used the confusion of battle to escape into the hills. Caradoc went north and eventually reached the lands of the Brigantes, which were ruled by a woman named Cartimandua. Caradoc hoped to use the lands of the Brigantes as a base to further attack the Romans. Unfortunately Queen Cartimandua was a client ruler for Rome and bound by that relationship, so she tricked Caradoc into thinking himself safe. Then she let the Romans knew his location and had Caradoc hauled off in chains to Rome.

The time of Caradoc in Rome was the last stage of his life. Like Vercingetorix so many years before the reputation and skill of Caradoc was widely known and spread in Rome itself, in order to make Claudius’ defeat of him all the more impressive. Upon arrival Caradoc is reunited with his wife and daughter and together they are forced to walk in Claudius’ Triumph as a war prize, a testament to Rome’s strength in arms. After the Triumph ended Caradoc was allowed to speak before the Senate and Emperor in the Curia (The chamber where the Senate met). Against Roman tradition his wife and daughter stood with him as he delivered the following the speech as recorded by the historian Tacticus: "If the degree of my nobility and fortune had been matched by moderation in success, I would have come to this City as a friend rather than a captive, nor would you have disdained to receive with a treaty of peace one sprung from brilliant ancestors and commanding a great many nations. But my present lot, disfiguring as it is for me, is magnificent for you. I had horses, men, arms, and wealth: what wonder if I was unwilling to lose them? If you wish to command everyone, does it really follow that everyone should accept your slavery? If I were now being handed over as one who had surrendered immediately, neither my fortune nor your glory would have achieved brilliance. It is also true that in my case any reprisal will be followed by oblivion. On the other hand, if you preserve me safe and sound, I shall be an eternal example of your clemency." The eloquence of the speech combined with the proud and noble pose of Caradoc as he said it made a great impact on Claudius, and instead of having Caradoc and his family executed, pardoned them of the crime of resistance to Rome and he allowed them to live in Rome as free citizens for the rest of their lives. Caradoc and his family lived quite happily in Rome, though at one point Caradoc remarked to a Roman visitor “And can you, then, who have got such possessions and so many of them, covet our poor tents?” Caradoc reportedly died around 54 AD of old age. So died Caradoc, the first British rebel to Rome, at an unknown age.

In conclusion Caradoc was hero of his people and a formidable opponent of Rome. After Caradoc’s death there was reportedly much mourning in Rome over the loss of such a great foe. Upon the later return of Caradoc’s wife, daughter, and her family there was much mourning in Britain as well. Due to the status of Caradoc as a great rebel leader a mythos grew up around him, especially in Wales. Due to the mystique of him and the stories Caradoc the myth and Caradoc the man have become nigh on inseparable, making modern study of him a hard one. Interestingly enough Caradoc has a tie to early Christianity in the form of his daughter’s conversion, possibly during the house arrest of Paul of Tarsus in Nero’s reign. She took the name Claudia and married Paul’s half brother Rufus Pudens. These two are credited with the founding of the Church in Britain. So in closing Caradoc was one of the great military heroes of the Brythonic Celts and a great rebel leader besides that. A man who is deserving of his title of ‘First British Hero'.

[Biographies: Cunobelinus]

Cunobelinus (Brythonic: Hound of Belenus) was a king of the Catuvellauni tribe of the Brythonic Celts. Cunobelinus, who is also known as Cymbeline and Cynfelyn, is a legend amongst the Welsh and honored by them as an ancestor of Arthur.

No one knows when Cunobelinus was born. Due to the scarcity of sources we do not know when or where Cunobelinus was born. It is entirely possible he was born in Verlamio (modern St. Albans), which was the capital of the Catuvellauni for most of his father’s reign. His father was Tasciovanus, the grandson of Cassivellanus, leader of the resistance against Julius Caesar. His mother is unknown.

We have our first mention of Cunobelinus in 9 AD. Probably due to the fact that Rome was distracted by the disaster at Teutoburg, Cunobelinus led his first recorded military action in 9 AD. He was warring against the Trinovantes, old enemies of the Catuvellauni. The enmity between the two tribes goes back to the days of Cassivellanus, when the Trinovantes betrayed the Catuvellauni to Caesar. Leading to the Catuvellauni’s current status as a tributary state of the Roman Empire. In any case after gaining his father’s permission Cunobelinus led an army into the lands of the Trinovantes and easily conquered them. With this conquest the Catuvellauni became the biggest and most powerful tribe in Southeastern Britain. Tasciovanus decided it was best to have a relative ruling over the Trinovantes, so he appointed Cunobelinus to rule over them. For his capital Cunobelinus chose the old capital of the Trinovantes: Camulodunum (modern Colchester). However Cunobelinus would not get to stay there for long, for in 10 AD Tasciovanus passed away and Cunobelinus as the eldest son became king of the Catuvellauni.

Cunobelinus would be a brilliant king. With the death Tasciovanus and the ascension of his son Cunobelinus things looked good for the Catuvellauni. One of Cunobelinus’ first actions was to take the crown of the conquered Trinovantes and add it to his own. Effectively making the Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni a joint kingdom. To further cement this Cunobelinus moved the capital from Verlamio to Camulodunum .We know from the coinage minted that Tasciovanus was not friendly with Rome and had no relations with them beyond what was normal of a tributary state. Cunobelinus changed all that. He opened up relations with Rome and through some deft political maneuvering got himself recognized by Tiberius as Britannorum Rex (Latin: King of the Britons). The Romans authorized the Catuvellauni to build a mint to make coins with the title on them only to discover to their surprise that the Catuvellauni already had the ability, indeed had it since Tasciovanus. In the mid 20s AD Cunobelinus sought to expand his kingdom, to make the Roman bestowed title of Britannorum Rex a reality. Cunobelinus would go in one direction while his younger brother, Epaticcus, went another direction. Of these conquests we only know of what Epaticcus was doing. The campaign of Epaticcus was against the Atrebates and their king Verica. In 25 AD Epaticcus conquered the Atrebatean capital of Calleva (modern Silchester). Present on this campaign was Cunobelinus’ youngest child, Caradoc (the other two sons were with Cunobelinus). 25 AD also marked the end of Cunobelinus’ own campaign, of which little is known. This marked a peaceful period for the combined Trinovantean-Catuvellaunian kingdom. In this period Cunobelinus focused on peaceful matters and diplomatic conquests rather then military ones and Camulodunum flourished as its king lavished attention on it, making Camulodunum the center of politics, learning, and trade in Britain. In 35 AD disaster struck when Epaticcus died. Cunobelinus was depending on his brother to guard the flank while he ruled from Camulodunum in peace. To solve the problem Cunobelinus divided up the kingdom between his sons. The eldest, Adminius, was given control of the lands of Cantium (modern East Kent) where the old sub king Vodenos had recently died. The second son, Togodumnus, was given the Catuvellaunian heartlands based around Verlamio to rule. The youngest son, Caradoc, was given the former lands of Epaticcus to rule. It was during this time that Cunobelinus began to show his dislike for Togodumnus’ and Caradoc’s involvement with the Druids. No one knows exactly why Cunobelinus disliked the Druids and we may never know. In any case he did not make his displeasure with his younger sons a secret. Around 40 AD (the exact date is unknown) Cunobelinus was rendered unable to rule effectively, modern historians believe he suffered a stroke, and a power grab between his sons began. Togodumnus and Caradoc acted quicker then Adminius and seized control. Forging a decree the younger brothers banished Adminius, the favored son, and Caradoc gave control of Cantium to himself. Adminius fled to Rome, hoping to gain protection with Caligula. Caligula, who was mentally unstable, treated Adminius’ arrival as the surrender of all Britain to him. An invasion army was assembled and Togodumnus and Caradoc prepared to defend, only to be abandoned by Caligula on a whim (the vast army was ordered to collect seashells instead). In 42 AD Cunobelinus died in Camulodunum and all of Southeastern Britain mourned his passing. So died Cunobelinus, the first British statesman, at an unknown age.

When Cunobelinus died everything began to fall apart. While Cunobelinus lived he kept his vast kingdom together through a careful mix of politics and force. He also had a healthy respect for the power of Rome and knew that keeping them as a friend was better then as an enemy. Unfortunately Cunobelinus’ sons did not possess their father’s political skills or his respect for Rome so soon after his death the kingdom was destroyed by the army of Claudius Caesar. Later in time Cunobelinus became a semi-mythical folk hero amongst the Welsh and Shakespeare used this for the basis of his play Cymbeline. In conclusion Cunobelinus was a good king to his people and a good statesman who deserves his title of “First Statesman of Britain”.

[Biographies: Pericles]

Pericles was an Athenian statesman of the late fifth century B.C. Pericles was a radical statesman, a great builder, and the father of the Athenian empire.

Pericles was born before Athens’ golden age. Pericles was born in 495 B.C. in the city of Athens. His father was Xanthippus, and his mother was Agariste, a daughter of the controversial Alcmaeonid family (The Alcmaeonids had betrayed Athens at Marathon). Quite curiously Pericles was born with an abnormally long head, thus why all depictions of him are as wearing a helmet. As a young man Pericles was given the best education available being taught by the great Daman, a musical theorist whose teachings were not confined to just musical theory, he also taught politics. Pericles would also later study under the legendary sophist Zeno (who asked a question about Achilles and a turtle that would stump people until the advent of calculus) and Anaxagoras, a philosopher that taught nobility of purpose and character. It would be from Anaxagoras that Pericles would learn his measured, persuasive way of speaking. In 484 B.C. Xanthippus was ostracized, only to be allowed back in 480 B.C. and a given a command the following year. At Mycale the Athenians under Xanthippus prevailed, although he would not live long engouth to enjoy it. Pericles would inherit from his father his political position of favoring the common people over the old families as well as some landed holdings in Cholargus, north of Athens, which catapulted Pericles to the second level of the Athenian rich class.

In 472 Pericles entered public life. His first public office was when he paid for the production of the three part play The Persians by Aeschylus. Pericles then mysteriously vanishes from the records for almost a decade. When Pericles returns to public notice in 463 B.C. it is as a lawyer. Almost immediately Pericles does not make himself any friends when he brought charges against Cimon, the premier general of the time and son of Miltiades, during his review before the Ekklesia (the lower house of the Assembly, the governing body of Athens). Pericles’ case is that Cimon was guilty of neglecting the chance to expand the power of Athens by invading Macedon. Pericles lost the case and Cimon was able to continue as he had before. This would herald the start of a rivalry between the two men. Cimon was a member of the highest tier of wealthy aristocrats in Athens and supported the principle of oligarchy or rule by the few. Pericles was a champion of the common people and he strived to create a better democracy or rule by many. About this time (462 B.C.) there was a revolt amongst the Helots of Sparta and Cimon led 4,000 men to assist the Spartans. The Spartans, though they admired Cimon for his views (which were similar to their own), sent the Athenians away out of fear for the spread of democracy. When Cimon returned to Athens he found a very angry Assembly waiting for him. The Assembly had not authorized any move to help Sparta, so Cimon was ostracized. This saw the displacement of the aristocratic party and their replacement by the democratic party, led by Ephialtes and Pericles (who by now had risen in power because of skills at oratory). Then in 461 Ephialtes was assassinated because he limited the power of the Aeropagus (Archaic Greek: Council of Elders). As Ephialtes’ lieutenant Pericles succeeded him in the leadership of the democratic party.

As the leader of the most influential party in Athens, Pericles was in a position to influence it to his vision. Pericles started by championing a change in the foreign policy of Athens, by revoking the alliance with Sparta and instead allying with Argos and Thessaly. This was done. Then Megara, a Peloponnesian League member deserted and joined the Athenians in their Delian League, allowing for the construction of the famous Long Walls that would connect Athens with its port of Piraeus. In 458 B.C. war with Sparta and her allies began when Pericles had the island of Aegina blocked and Megara was reinforced with an army of those too young or too old for regular service. This had the effect of waving a red cloth in front of a bull so to speak and Sparta attacked. Pericles did not take much of an active role in this war, but at one point he did command. While this was going on Pericles learned of revolt against Persia in Egypt and he argued to send a 200 ship fleet originally meant for Cyprus to aid the rebels. This was done. Then out of the blue Cimon was back, leading Athenian troops against Sparta, whose troops were getting dangerously close to Athens. Some friends of Pericles got Cimon removed and the war went badly again. Pericles, in a moment of kindness argued to revoke the ostracization of Cimon and invite him back to Athens. In 454 Pericles, in one of his few personal military victories defeated the Achaeans in battle on the Gulf of Corinth, but at the same time the Persians defeated the revolt in Egypt and the Athenian fleet sent with it. When news of this reached Athens they were shocked, no one expected the Persians to defeat the fleet. At the same time the war with Sparta was beginning to drag on, no one was making any progress. Pericles offered the idea to start negotiating, but it would take another three years of stalemate to purpose one to Sparta. At the same time Pericles made his most ambitious move yet. Using the recent defeat by Persia as the cause Pericles purposed to move the treasury of the Delian League off of the island of Delos and into Athens. The aristocratic party vehemently fought the measure, stating that moving the treasury could be constructed as an act of tyranny and would reflect badly on Athens. But Pericles’ persuasive arguments won out in the end and the treasury was moved. As expected the league members were not happy but did not openly challenge the decision of Athens. Pericles also argued that the league treasury should become strictly monetary in nature, in other words ships, men, and weapons were no longer acceptable only money. Most historians mark this event as the birth of the Athenian empire. In 451 B.C. Athens concluded a 5 year truce with Sparta and Pericles argued that now was the time to avenge their earlier defeat against Persia. The Assembly sent Cimon with 200 ships to Cyprus where he would win a great victory on land and sea against Persia at Cypriot Salamis. Soon afterwards Cimon died, but the campaign continued to victory. In Athens meanwhile Pericles purposed and passed a bill through the Assembly, a bill that limited Athenian citizenship to those whose parents were both Athenian. Many believed that the citizenship bill was a last jab at Cimon, whose mother was Thracian. In 450 B.C. Athens signed a formal pan-Hellenic treaty with Persia called the Peace of Callias. Pericles would take advantage of this treaty to later justify his building spree further on.

With the 5 Years Truce in effect and the Peace of Callias signed Athens was at peace and Pericles would move up. With the end of the war with Persia many Greek states thought that there was no longer a reason for the Delian League to exist. As a result they refused to pay Athens’ the tribute it had been collecting since 454. Athens as a whole and Pericles in particular, did not take kindly to this gesture and called for a pan-Hellenic conference at Delphi. At the conference Pericles once again displayed his famous oratory and persuasive skills by convincing a majority of the Greek city-states (Sparta did not listen to anything Pericles said) that the great temples destroyed during the invasion of Xerxes needed to be rebuilt. Pericles also convinced the city-states to fund sacrifices to Olympus as thanks for salvation during the war. Lastly Pericles secured the freedom of the seas, or in other words no city-state was allowed to control the waves. The result of this conference was that Pericles had single handedly restored the tributary system and Athenian dominance. In 447 B.C. Pericles, by convincing the Assembly it was just, ordered the rebuilding of the temple of Athena on the Acropolis. Later known as the Parthenon the new temple was the greatest of its style, Doric, and it was the most richly adorned temple in Greece proper. Such greats as Iktinos and Kallikrates the architects and Phidias the sculptor worked on the building. The Parthenon was not without its detractors however. Many of the aristocratic party saw building the Parthenon as a colossal waste of drachmae (Greek coinage) and the money was better spent on other things. Others objected because they believed that when the other city-states saw what Athens was doing with their money they would think Athens a tyrant. But none of this stopped Pericles, who defended his decision by stating that since there was still much drachmae in the treasury even after spending so much on the out fitting of the League army and navy what better use would there be but to construct a temple? Pericles also pointed out that the construction provided more jobs, which was always a good thing. However Pericles’ victory in the Assembly was not followed by victory elsewhere for in that same year Athens was forced to abandon Boeotia to a returning Boeotian army and this caused revolts elsewhere at Euboea, Megara, and the Thracian Chersonese. The revolt of Megara was particularly jarring; due to the fact it provoked, for the first time in 12 years, the appearance of the Spartan Army north of the Isthmus of Corinth. Pericles was sent to the Thracian Chersonese where he conducted his most admirable campaign in expelling the non-Greeks in the area. When he returned Pericles learned of the Spartan Army he immediately went into action. No one knows exactly what happened next nor how Pericles did it but the Spartans left peacefully and Athens dismantled her land based empire for a solely maritime one. Probably as part of the agreement as soon as the Spartan Army went home the Athenians laid Euboea to waste, while leaving Megara be. In the winter of 446 the agreement was expanded into a peace treaty known as the 30 Years Peace. Perhaps because of his part in negotiating the 30 Years Peace and expelling the barbarians in the Thracian Chersonese, Pericles was finally elected to the coveted post of Strategos (Archaic Greek: General) in 445 B.C. The Strategoi (the plural of Strategos) were always ten in number and remained in office for a year. Pericles, as it would turn out, would stay in office for 16 years.

Now in a position of great power Pericles would make Athens in his own way. Not long after becoming Strategos Pericles realized the danger posed to Athens by the loss of Megara. So he decided to build a third Long Wall between Athens and Piraeus, and this one gave the Athenians the ability to turn themselves into an island at will. However this was met with criticism by the aristocratic party, whom was now lead by Thucydides (not the historian), a relative of Cimon. Thucydides had been behind ever major disagreement with Pericles since Cimon died in 451 and Pericles was getting tired of it. In 443 he engineered events to get Thucydides ostracized and not allowed to return for ten years. With him gone Pericles was now undisputedly the greatest man in Athens; no one could stand against him. Things were peaceful in Athens now and Pericles used the opportunity to pass a number of bills. The most well known are: the bill which allowed those Athenians who did not have any wealth, called thetes, to hold public office. Another is the bill which gave all citizens who took part in the Assembly a special salary called the misthoforia (Archaic Greek: paid function). The third, which is actually a legacy of Ephialtes and may have been packaged with the bill above, is the payment of juries and other magistrates. About this time, no one really knows for sure, a great shock happened in Pericles’ personal life. A woman from the city of Miletus named Aspasia appeared in Athens and Pericles, who had long since divorced his wife, took Aspasia into his home upon seeing her in public. Aspasia was not a regular Greek woman, she was a Hetaera. The Hetaere (plural of Hetaera) were sophisticated companions like the Geisha of Japan, which meant that unlike other women in Greece they had an education. Hetaere could play musical instruments of all kinds and were skilled in the art of conversation. The speaking skills of Hetaere were so highly valued they could take part in symposiums and for this reason the Hetaere were the only women that the men valued the opinions of. Hetaere unlike other women could go out in public when ever and where ever they wished with out a male escort. Finally Hetaere could fulfill the position of a prostitute, but this was not always the case and too complicated to go over in this article. In any case Pericles became quite enamored with Aspasia and asked her to be his companion, which she did. Pericles expressed several times the wish to marry Aspasia, but he was an Athenian citizen and she was not and could not become one because of Pericles’ own law. Aspasia living in Pericles’ house gave huge amounts of ammo for Pericles’ opponents to smear him with, particularly in the case of them kissing when Pericles went to work and came home from work. Meanwhile on the bigger stage Pericles spearheaded the effort of a pan-Hellenic colonization of Southern Italy, resulting in the foundation of Thurii in 443, but Athens gained no influence from this to Pericles’ chagrin. Perhaps to help offset what he felt was a failure in relation to Thurii, Pericles lead a fleet from Athens into the Black Sea and established a grain colony on the Tauric Chersonese (modern Crimea). All of this served to elevate Athens higher and higher and Pericles wanted to make sure that even foreigners who came to Athens recognized her greatness. Pericles went on his greatest building spree yet, adorning Athens with great buildings of all kinds. Many were for the public benefit, but some were just to show off. The two additions to the Parthenon complex, the temple to Nike and the Propylaea were the greatest examples of this. The festivals also became more splendorous during this time, in particular Pericles favored the expanding of the religious festival of Panathenaea and the rites of the Mysteries of Eleusis. However there were still several attempts to try to discredit Pericles despite the happy atmosphere. In particular was the case in which Phidias was accused of corruption by the aristocratic party. In the trial Phidias was convicted and thrown into jail. Pericles argued for a retrial and got Phidias’ name cleared in another brilliant example of oratorical talents. But when they went to free Phidias he was already dead, theories abounded that he had been murdered. But there was really no conclusive evidence so it never went to the Aeropagus, which Ephialtes’ reforms had made into a murder court. In 440 B.C. the island of Samos, a crucial member of the Delian League, broke away. They stated that Athens had become too tyrannical for them to stomach. Pericles would not, could not, let this stand. So he led a campaign against the Samians. At first things went against the Athenians and they suffered heavy losses. But Pericles was able to win a great victory over them at sea that turned the tide. Despite this the war carried on for some time and losses continued. In the end Athens won and Samos was brought back to the fold and the Samos campaign was regarded as the model for the aspiring general to measure himself on. The heavy losses suffered gave the enemies of Pericles reason to criticize him. This culminated in the aristocratic party’s accusation that Aspasia was having an adverse effect on Pericles, thus it was her fault that Pericles’ forces had such a hard time quelling Samos. The charge of disrespectfulness to the gods was leveled on Aspasia and in effect against Pericles as well. This ends up leading to questions of an investigation of Pericles’ financial affairs. For Pericles none of this was good, he needed to get the attention of the people off him and somewhere else. Sparta and her allies would provide that distraction. Ever since the 30 Years Peace the city of Corinth and its interests had conflicted with Athens. Corinth was allied with Sparta and the two together posed a formidable threat to Athens. Due to the cold antagonism between both sides Pericles set the Athenian economy on war footing in 433 B.C. A trade dispute then suddenly erupted between Megara and Athens which resulted in Pericles calling for the blocking of Megarian merchants from the Delian League markets. This was done. Pericles then argued for a conference between Athens and Megara to try to settle the issue peacefully. He asked the Spartans to be the neutral arbiters in the affair. Everything was set for a peaceful solution to the issue when the Athenian representative was found dead. Pericles, in a speech of fiery passion, denounced Megara and asked the Assembly to declare war. The Megarian representative denied that Megara had murdered the representative of Athens and blamed Pericles. The Assembly declared war anyway in the spring 431 B.C. This triggered the alliance system as the Delian League followed suit and declared war. Corinth then declared war on the Delian League and called on the Peloponnesian League to help. Sparta, in an admirable move tried to avoid war by telling the Athenians to step down and demobilize. It appears the Assembly may have considered the proposal but Pericles, once again displaying his persuasive powers, convinced them not too. Sparta then asked for the deposition of Pericles. If the Spartans were trying to pin all of the blame on Pericles and make him a war monger it backfired. The Athenians now looked upon Pericles as a hero to be loved, for if the Spartans hated him then he must be a hero. The Peloponnesian War had begun.

With the beginning of the Peloponnesian War the last stage of Pericles’ life began. With the entrance of Sparta into the war Pericles put into action his great strategy. It was deemed curious by later generations that Pericles had a plan for the war that probably took a long time to make on such short notice. Others think that it is just a testament to Pericles' genius to come up with a plan on such short notice. The Periclean Strategy, as it is known, was to draw the Athenian populace, which mostly lived in the countryside, within the protection of the Long Walls. Then shut the gates of the Long Walls and decline the Spartan Army the field battle it needed. Effectively sitting tight and letting the Spartans bang their skulls on the walls. For food Pericles decided to rely on the old wooden walls of Athens, the navy. As long as Athens ruled the waves they would have food and a means of striking back when the time came. But the Athenians had a love for the countryside and Pericles had to strain himself to convince them to abandon their homes and move into Athens itself. The mass influx of farm families caused rampant overcrowding and morale dropped amongst the city dwellers . Pericles received a lot of flak for his strategy, many saw it as cowardice and even Pericles' long time supporters abandoned him. When engaged in debate in the Assembly over the wisdom of leaving the countryside to the Spartans the defense Pericles offered was “Trees will grow back; dead men will not”. In an attempt to raise morale at the end of the first campaigning season of the Peloponnesian War Pericles gave a funeral oration for all who have died thus far, the historian Thucydides records it in his History of the Peloponnesian War. In his speech Pericles talks about what a horrible thing war is and that it should be avoided. But when your way of life is threatened then you must fight to protect it. Pericles goes on to say that dieing in the defense of your way of life is a just and worthy cause to die for, and not in vain. He also describes Athens as the school from which all of Hellas learns and that it must be protected. After making this speech things quieted down considerably for awhile. However when a plague broke out in Athens in 430 B.C. the people clamored for Pericles to step down from office, blaming every misfortune they suffered on him. The Assembly complied and before the Ekklesia Pericles was removed from office and fined. Unfortunately Pericles would not find peace at home. Despite Aspasia’s attempts to fix the problem herself one of Pericles’ sons by his divorced wife, Xanthippus, was unhappy about the little money he received as an allowance from his father and he grumbled in public about it. Xanthippus had married a young wife with expensive tastes and the money from Pericles barely allowed him to make ends meet. Behind his father’s back Xanthippus made a loan and used Pericles’ name. When the loan defaulted and the moneylenders came to Pericles looking for payment of Xanthippus’ exorbitant loan, not only does Pericles refuse to pay the debt but he sues Xanthippus as well. This caused a falling out between father and son that would last for some time. Not long after the conclusion of this mess Pericles learns that his sister had died from the plague. Many other friends and family members die from the plague and amazingly Pericles retains his calm composure. Only when his two sons by his divorced wife die of plague did Pericles show emotion, crying at their funeral. This endeared Pericles to the Athenians, who had never ever seen him show anything but calmness. In 429 B.C. it became evident that Nicias, the Strategos chosen to succeed Pericles was not the man to lead them. The Athenians asked Pericles to become Strategos again. Pericles, rather then hold all they put him through in 431 against them, agreed and in thanks the Assembly declared Pericles’ son by Aspasia, Pericles Jr., a legitimate son of Pericles and citizen of Athens. But before Pericles could even begin to embark on his job he contracted the plague. After a long illness he died in the autumn of 429 at the age of 66. So died Pericles, the man who shaped an entire era of history and left a legacy no would be able to surpass.

In conclusion Pericles was one of the greatest statesmen of all time. Pericles started out as a lawyer trying to oust the big dogs. Eventually due to his legendary skills at public speaking and great intelligence he became master of Athens for over 40 years. In those 40 years he transformed Athens into a radical democracy, an intellectual capital, and an empire. The influence of Pericles was so great that an entire period of history is named for him and today we still remember that influence.

[Biography: Lucius Sejanus]

Lucius Aelius Sejanus was a famous Roman politician of the 1st century AD. Due to the trust that Tiberius Caesar placed in him Sejanus rose to high position and nearly overthrew Tiberius, but he was brought down by the letter of a single woman.

Sejanus’ birth date is unknown. No one really knows when Sejanus was born, but good estimates place it around 4 BC and 1 BC in the town of Volsinii in Etruria. His father was Sejus Strabo, and his mother is unknown but was said to have been of high rank. The family of Sejanus belonged to the Roman upper class (but not nobility) of the Equestrian rank. Not much is known of Sejanus before his entrance into Roman politics. What we do is that in 14 AD, upon the ascension of Tiberius, Sejus Strabo was made Praetorian Prefect as a reward for years of loyal service. The records indicate that Sejanus often was with his father in Rome and he most definitely got to knew Tiberius in this time. At an unknown point in Sejanus’ childhood his father adopted Aelia Paetina, a woman of the prestigious Aelius family, for unknown reasons. Aelia’s adoption granted the name Aelius on all of the men of her new family.

When Sejanus’ father moved up so did Sejanus. In 16 AD Sejus Strabo was made Prefect of Egypt, the highest rank an Equestrian could attain. Sejanus was then made Praetorian Prefect in his father’s place. Sejanus soon proved himself in his new position and before long he was Tiberius’ closest and most trusted advisor. While this was going on Tiberius appointed his only biological son Drusus to govern Illyricum, Sejanus was sent with him to watch and aid wherever he could. During their time in Illyricum Drusus viewed Sejanus’ presence as Tiberius’ way of stating he had no faith in him. Sejanus in turn viewed Drusus as annoying and nerve grating. In 19 AD Germanicus died in Syria under mysterious circumstances and Drusus, as Tiberius’ only remaining son became heir. If Sejanus did not have feelings of ambition by now the death of Germanicus certainly awakened them. The only person that stood in the way of Sejanus becoming heir was Drusus. However Sejanus knew he would have do a lot more to prove himself worthy of being considered heir before thinking of how to deal with Drusus. A major stepping stone in Sejanus’ ambitions came in 20 AD when he cleverly maneuvered his daughter to wed Claudius Drusus, the eldest son of future emperor Claudius. But when the boy choked on a pear before the marriage Sejanus seemingly lost the opportunity to become an imperial in-law. However Sejanus did not give up, he managed to pull off getting his adopted sister Aelia Paetina married to Claudius himself, only to discover he was still not an imperial in-law. Sejanus spent the next several years carrying out various administrative duties which he preformed so well that Tiberius called him “a partner of my labors”. This culminated with Sejanus’ performance in the rebuilding of Pompeii after a devastating fire, which he handled so well that Tiberius had a statue of Sejanus built at the site of the new theater. With all of the accolades being bestowed on Sejanus, Drusus was becoming deeply jealous of him, this jealously ultimately resulted in Drusus punching Sejanus in the face after a bitter argument. A popular theory that springs from the later testimony of Sejanus’ first wife is that Drusus punched Sejanus due to the fact he thought that Sejanus was carrying on an affair with his wife Livilla. Drusus was suspicious because Livilla had given birth to twin sons back in 19 AD, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus, whom he knew were not his sons. This could explain Sejanus’ next actions.

With his administrative abilities praised by even Tiberius and his power growing Sejanus made his most dangerous move yet. On September 14th, 23 AD Drusus died following a short but violent illness. We know from Roman historians that it was commonly believed that Drusus was poisoned by Sejanus to prevent word of his affair from getting out as well as removing a major opponent. In any case with Drusus dead and with his as well as Germanicus’ children too young to enter politics the last real obstacle to Sejanus’ rising power was gone, the heights to which he could soar were unlimited. As proof Sejanus convinced Tiberius that it would in his best interest to build a new camp for the Praetorian Guard in Rome itself instead of its outskirts. He also convinced Tiberius to move a fourth cohort out of the Italian countryside to the new barracks. This new barracks, called the Castra Praetoria (Latin: Camp of the Praetorians), would prove to be a symbol of Sejanus’ power as it made the Praetorians readily available for use by the Prefect. While this was happening Tiberius was lamenting his position. With both his adopted son and real son dead and their children to young Tiberius was left without any real successors and he worried that at 64 he could die at any moment. Tiberius began to play with the idea of appointing a trustworthy man of skill to act as regent for his grandchildren should he die before they matured. Sejanus, of course, knew of this immediately and aspired to become that regent. In 25 AD Sejanus tried again to get into the Imperial family by asking for the hand of Livilla in marriage. But Tiberius refused due to the difference in social standing. Later that year the historian Cordus was arrested and killed by order of Sejanus for writing a book that was said to have justified the murder of Julius Caesar. In reality Cordus was an outspoken opponent of Sejanus and his control over Tiberius. In 26 AD the emperor made a speech before the Senate with his grandsons bemoaning the state of affairs that had befallen the Roman Empire and that he wished for a return to the old days of the Republic. Knowing this was impossible however, Tiberius announced he was leaving Rome for an extended trip to the resort island of Capri and that all affairs until his return were to be left in the hands of Sejanus. Sejanus, Tiberius stated, was fully deserving of this honor due to his excellent abilities as administrator and his selfless loyalty. Tiberius had no intention of returning however and once he left for Capri with his grandson Gaius (future emperor Caligula) he would not return.

Following the self exile of Tiberius the power of Sejanus reached its peak. It did not take long for all order to break down in Rome after the emperor left. By this time Agrippina the Elder, the wife of the popular Germanicus, had become quite the political activist and relentlessly pushed her children forward in the succession of Tiberius. Sejanus viewed her as a threat and plotted to have Agrippina and her eldest son Julius Caesar Nero (not the future emperor) exiled. But for the remaining part of 26 AD Sejanus failed in one plot after another to convince Tiberius that Agrippina and Julius Nero were a threat. In 27 AD Sejanus made some leeway in his schemes by managing to condemn the senator Sabinus, a supporter of Agrippina. This resulted in the Senate, who had to this point been against Sejanus, to timidly bow to his wishes. In 29 AD the mother of Tiberius died and Sejanus organized a funeral for her, but Tiberius refused to come out from Capri to attend. He instead sent a letter to Sejanus telling him that he feared that Agrippina meant to murder him. Sejanus was overjoyed; this gave him the excuse he needed to get Agrippina and Julius Nero out of the way. Before the Senate Sejanus accused Agrippina of unfaithfulness to the memory of Germanicus by carrying on an affair with Ascinius Gallus, an ambitious man who had aspired for the throne since Augustus’ day. He also accused Julius Nero of becoming involved in vices unbefitting a Roman. The Senate, which had little choice, then ordered the two to be beaten and exiled to the island of Pandataria off the coast of Naples (interestingly engouth Pandataria was the same island that Agrippina’s mother Julia was exiled). The resulting public outcry was tremendous as Agrippina, being Germanicus’ wife, was very popular with the common folk. This event marked the apogee of Sejanus’ power, no one could stop him now, not even the Senate, and no one was safe, not even the imperial family. In 30 AD Sejanus tracked down Ascinius Gallus and had him condemned, seemingly as a reward for this and more Tiberius offered Sejanus the hand in marriage of Livilla’s daughter Livia Julia. Sejanus immediately accepted the offer, having tried to get into the imperial family so many times before. With his marriage to Livia Julia, Sejanus was in a position to become emperor himself, so he spent the rest of 30 AD replacing the army commanders with his own lackeys just in case of a revolt. To round out the year Tiberius made a surprising announcement, when he held the Consulship the following year Sejanus would hold it with him. Tiberius also announced that he would share his Imperium Proconsulare (Latin: proconsular powers) with Sejanus. All of this could only mean one thing: Tiberius meant to make Sejanus heir and co-emperor with him. In preparation the Senate made Sejanus’ birthday a national holiday and made all prayers, sacrifices, and oaths in the name of “Tiberius and his Sejanus”. Sejanus’ joy at all that was happening to him was so great that he became careless and in early 31 AD a letter slipped through to Tiberius on Capri unedited by Sejanus’ lackeys, it would prove to be his downfall.

Sejanus’ downfall would be earth shaking. In early 31 AD a letter, unedited by Sejanus or his web of spies, arrived for Tiberius at Capri. The letter was from Tiberius’ beloved widowed sister-in-law Antonia. Antonia had for her entire life kept herself far and away from the messy muck that was Roman politics and for this reason Tiberius trusted her word utterly. Antonia’s letter was an accusation against Sejanus, saying that he was plotting to overthrow Tiberius and make himself emperor. As proof Antonia went into deep detail on Sejanus’ plots and schemes. Tiberius was shocked, but at the same time he may not have been all that surprised. There is some proof that Tiberius was suspicious of Sejanus before. In any case this time Tiberius acted against Sejanus. To test the climate of Rome, so to speak, Tiberius began to send letters to various senators in Rome with a mixed message. In other words while Tiberius lavished praise and glory on Sejanus in his letters he also wrote things that were mildly critical of the Prefect. When Sejanus attempted to condemn an enemy senator named Arruntus the emperor blocked the motion. To make sure that Sejanus did not catch on Tiberius lavished statues and coins with his likeness on the Prefect. While Sejanus reveled in these public displays Tiberius resigned as Consul, taking the unhappy Sejanus with him. In their place Caligula was made Consul, and with him all sacrifices to living humans was forbidden. At the same time Tiberius kept up the praise and Sejanus was becoming very unsettled by all this. The biggest blow came when Tiberius, discovering that the Praetorian Guard were still loyal to him, secretly replaced Sejanus as Praetorian Prefect with Q. Sertorius Macro. Macro was given orders to read a long rambling letter before the Senate while Sejanus was present and then arrest him. On October 18, 31 AD Sejanus was called to the Senate to hear a new letter from the emperor. Rumors spread that the letter gave the bearer the power to bestow Tribunicia Potestas (Latin: tribunician powers) on a person. To Sejanus this meant that the day of the fulfillment of his ambition was at hand. Once Sejanus had entered the room Macro entered soon after, having visited the Castra Praetoria first to make sure the Guard would not attempt to rescue Sejanus. Macro then began to read a long, rambling letter that started out praising Sejanus and seemingly granting him the last step to emperor-hood only to do a complete 180 and virulently denounce Sejanus and order his arrest. The Senate and the common people cheered the downfall of the tyrannical Sejanus and before nightfall he was executed by beheading in the Forum. So died Lucius Aelius Sejanus the Praetorian Prefect whose ambitions nearly made him emperor, at the age of 35.

In conclusion Sejanus’ actions would have lasting consequences. In the immediate after math of Sejanus’ death Tiberius and the Senate began a veritable witch hunt to find all of Sejanus’ lackeys in the Roman government. Due to how deeply imbedded Sejanus was it would take several bloody years (33 AD being the worst) to find all of Sejanus’ supporters and family, drag them to the courts of treason and execute them. All of Sejanus’ family was killed, including Livilla and her two illegitimate sons by him. During her trial Sejanus’ first wife gave her now famous testimony of the illicit affair. Some Sejanus supporters to save their own skin turned on each other. By 34 AD Tiberius ordered a halt to the witch hunt, he died shortly there after in 37. The more far reaching implications of Sejanus’ actions was that the Praetorian Prefect and later on in time the Magister Militum could become a dangerous man to the emperor if he is ambitious enough.

[Battles: Battle of Milvian Bridge]

The Battle of Milvian Bridge is one of the most crucial battles in Roman history. In this battle Constantine made a bold move by using Christian symbols in his army instead of the usual Imperial regalia, signifying a conversion, and he won. Changing the course of Western history forever.

The trouble began almost as soon as Constantine came to the lime light. In 305 AD Diocletian and Maximianus retired from public life. Their respective Caesars (junior emperors) Galerius and Constantius Chorlus succeeded them. Constantine, then a good will hostage at Nicomedia, was made heir by Chorlus, even though Chorlus already had a Caesar. In 306 Constantius Chorlus died after fighting the Picts at Ebucarum (Modern York) in Britain. In accordance with the will of Chorlus the army acclaimed Constantine as the new Augustus of the West. At the same time in Rome the popular son of Maximianus, Maxentius, was made Augustus by the Senate. Then there was the issue of Caesar Severus, the junior emperor of Chorlus. In 307 Maximianus tried to solve the problems between Constantine and his son by offering his daughter Fausta to Constantine in marriage. However in 308 Diocletian decided to take matters into his own hands and calls for a conference at Carnumtum (modern Hainburg, Austria) temporarily taking power as Emperor again along with Maximianus. At Carnumtum Diocletian appoints Maxentius as Augustus of the West and Galerius Augustus of the East. Diocletian also appoints Caesars for the new Augusti: Constantine for Maxentius, Licinius for Galerius. This supposedly solved the matter and Diocletian and Maximianus retire for the second time. However Constantine refuses to accept Maxentius as Augustus of the West, though he renders Maxentius the customary lip service. Maxentius is however very much paranoid and this coupled with his ego made him fearful of an invasion by Constantine, yet confident he’d win. In 310 AD Maximianus stages a revolt in southern Gaul in an attempt to regain power. When Constantine defeated him Maximianus died, either by his own hand or by Constantine’s. The death of Maximianus caused Maxentius and Constantine to have a major falling out. Then in 311 Galerius died, and the struggle of power now balanced precipitously between the four rivals. Maxentius, due to his paranoia, had always been suspicious of Constantine and planned to invade Gaul following Galerius’ death, but was unable to. In 312 Constantine found out about this from senatorial ambassadors and in a rage he decided to invade Italy to put an end to western problems once and for and all.

Determined to put an end to Maxentius’ threat Constantine invaded. In early 312 AD Constantine led 40,000 men down from Gaul and into Italy via the Alps. They advanced so quickly that Maxentius’ garrisons at the foot of the Alps were caught completely off guard; word traveled fast and at Augusta Taurinorum (Modern Turin) the garrison prepared to meet Constantine. But Constantine is able to easily defeat Maxentius’ forces at the fields outside of Augusta Taurinorum, resulting in the fall of all of Italy between the Alps and the Po River. Before departing however he stopped at Mediolanium (modern Milan) to enter Maxentius’ palace in triumph as a publicity gesture. Constantine continued on until he reached Brescia when cavalry dispatched by the famous general Ruricius Pompeianus attacked. The attack was repulsed and Constantine besieged the city of Verona, Pompeianus’ HQ. When Pompeianus died following an attempt to break the siege Verona surrendered and in Rome, Maxentius, who was thus far only concerned with his own pleasure, now realized that Constantine posed a threat. He gathered an army 75,000 strong and before leaving Maxentius had the ancient Sibylline Scrolls opened and read. The priests in charge of reading, scared of Maxentius’ wrath, told him that the scrolls said the enemy of Rome would die. Certain that Constantine was that enemy Maxentius left Rome confident of victory; he took position outside the village of Saxa Rubra (Latin: Red Stones) nine miles from Rome. At his back was the Milvian Bridge, the last major monument before the limits of the city. Constantine arrived at Saxa Rubra a few days later on October 27th, 312 AD. The stage was set for the battle to decide the fate of the empire.

Both armies arrayed for battle under darkness. The army of Maxentius and the army of Constantine were both very similar in composition but not in quality. Both armies were comprised primarily of the elite core of Later Roman armies, the Comitantenses . There was also large numbers of cavalry in both armies, with Maxentius’ having the added advantage of being heavily armored. In addition there was a variety of Germanic (Constantine) and African (Maxentius) mercenaries to provide support. The formation of the actual battle lines are unknown, as is much of the battle, but we do know that in Constantine’s line the crack Gallic cavalry was in front and in Maxentius’ line the Praetorian Guard held the center.

The battle would be little more then a rout of Maxentius’ forces. On the morning of October 28th, 312 AD the commanders of Constantine’s army met with their emperor to hear an astonishing command. The previous night Constantine, upon going to sleep, had seeing a cross in the sky, seemingly aflame, and while staring at the spectacle Constantine said he heard a loud voice speaking in Greek saying “En Tutoi Nika” (Koine Greek: With this sign you will conquer). Constantine also saw another vision, early that very morning, of the same voice telling him to put the first two letters of the name of Jesus Christ on his men’s shields and standards, the letters in question (Chi and Rho) appeared in the sky as if on fire in the same spot the cross was the previous night. Constantine, in obedience to the voice, whom he was convinced was Jesus himself, ordered his commanders to tear down all of the old imperial regalia and eagles and replace them with crosses. He also ordered Chi-Rhos painted on the shields of his army. Bewildered the commanders obeyed and later Constantine made a public speech to his army about his change of religion. The army, instead of mocking their commander, cheered his decision. In the late morning the army of Constantine attacked the lines of Maxentius with the Gallic cavalry, Constantine at the head, leading the charge. Maxentius was confident that his 75,000 man army could easily rout Constantine’s 50,000. In addition Maxentius thought that he held the moral high ground by staying with the old religion. Not much is known of what happened next, what we do is that despite superior numbers Maxentius’ troops are unable to repulse Constantine’s charge and at the height of the battle the Praetorian Guard in the center broke. With his center gone Maxentius realized that his army could very well be annihilated, so he ordered a fighting retreat across the Milvian Bridge and the two pontoon bridges set along side it. But Maxentius’ army had lost all sense of cohesion and began to flee with out any sense of order across to the southern shore of the Tiber. Due to the small width of the bridge and large number of men now trying to cross a bottleneck was created and Constantine’s men slaughtered the retreating soldiers, who realizing they were being pursued trampled many of their own to death. Then amidst this already chaotic affair the pontoons broke and hundreds drowned in the Tiber, Maxentius among them. By day’s end Maxentius’ massive army was gone, either dead or imprisoned. Maxentius was fished out of the river by Constantine’s soldiers and buried. After caring for their own dead the victors marched the final nine miles to Rome where Constantine would make his startling declaration that the God of the Christians was responsible for his victory.

In the after math of Milvian much happened. In the immediate aftermath of the battle Constantine put the Roman world upside down when after being made Augustus by the Senate he declared an end to the persecution of the Christian faith in the West. Constantine stripped Rome of all of its old trappings and created new Christian trappings, going as far as replacing the old imperial eagle with a Labarum (a cross with a Chi-Rho on it) in the courtyard of the palace. In 313 Constantine and Licinius made the end of the persecution empire wide and later Constantine would come to rule the entire Roman world. In the long term Constantine’s victory at Milvian Bridge paved the way for the dominance of Christianity, not paganism, in Europe which remains to this day.

[Biographies: Diocletian]

Diocletian was a Roman emperor of the 3rd century AD. He is well known for his status as the farmer turned emperor whose reforms saved Rome.

The future emperor was born into poverty. Diocletian was born as Diokles on December 22, 240 AD (this is disputed, some sources say 245 AD) near Spalatum (modern Split) in Dalmatia (modern Croatia). His parents were of low birth, possibly even freed slaves, and their names are unrecorded. Of his life before entering the Roman army we know that he received little education, just enough to learn to read. Diocletian spent most of his time growing cabbages and other farming. Somewhere along the way he married a woman by the name of Prisca and together they had a daughter named Valeria who was to be Diocletian’s only child. Both are said to have been Christians. In the mid-260s (this is really just a guess by historians) Diocletian left his farm for service in the army, possibly in order to provide for his family.

Joining the army opened a new chapter in the life of Diocletian. In the army Diocletian showed himself to be a shrewd, able, and ambitious soldier, traits which catapulted him through the ranks of the hierarchy. In 270 (another guess by historians) Diocletian was made Dux (Duke) of Moesia and put in charge of border defense along the Danube. As a high officer Diocletian showed himself to be a man of prudence who did not seek glory but instead sought victory in everything he did. This coupled with humble beginnings made him popular with his men. In 282 AD the commander of all legions in the Danube area, Carus, was proclaimed emperor by his army. Diocletian had by his service as Dux found favor with Carus, who made Diocletian commander of the cavalry arm of the protectores domestici which functioned as Carus’ bodyguard. In 283 Carus made Diocletian a Consul. In 284 Carus left Rome for the east, to fight a war against the Sassanid Persians. During this campaign Carus died under mysterious circumstances, it was assumed he was either struck by lightning or assassinated. The army fell back to Nicomedia in Asia Minor where the empire was divided between Carus’ two sons: Numerian in the east and Carinus in the west. Numerian also soon died under mysterious circumstances and the army, believing now that both emperors were killed by underhanded means, charged Diocletian with finding the assassin. He singled out Arrius Aper and on November 20, 284 AD Diocletian personally executed Aper in front of the army. On that same day the entire army acclaimed Diocletian as their new emperor. To fit this new status he changed his name from Diokles to Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus. However in the west Carinus was not happy with recent developments in the east and he marched to confront Diocletian. Diocletian marched out to meet him and the two met at Margum (modern Belgrade) on April 1, 285 AD. At first the eastern army was losing the battle, but just as it seemed that Carinus would carry the day word arrived that Carinus’ own officers had murdered him. With the loss of their emperor Carinus’ western army surrendered to Diocletian and acclaimed him as emperor.

Now as sole emperor Diocletian would change the empire. One of Diocletian’s first acts as sole emperor was too assuage the fears of the former officers of Carinus by keeping the former emperor’s Praetorian Prefect and other governmental officials in place. After this Diocletian did something utterly surprising. In November, 285 Diocletian appointed his old army buddy Maximianus as Caesar, this was surprising because everyone thought a politician or bureaucrat would get the position. Maximianus would later prove to be the perfect choice of Caesar for Diocletian. On April 1, 286 Diocletian made Maximianus his full colleague by making him joint emperor with him. However Diocletian was still senior to Maximianus and could override him at any time. The promotion was soon overshadowed by the news of a rebellion by Carausius, the admiral of the fleet based on the North Sea, who had proclaimed himself emperor of Britain. At the same time pressing matters involving the ever troublesome Danube frontier called for Diocletian’s attention. To solve these problems Diocletian took care of the Danube frontier while Maximianus took care of Carausius. For the next several years the two emperors would criss-cross over all of the empire putting out brush fires and dealing with would be emperors, all in attempt to bring some sense of stability to the great beast that was Rome in those days. In 293 AD, during a rare breather amidst the action, Diocletian took his greatest step yet. The previous nine years had shown Diocletian that if Rome was to survive the next succession it needed a new political apparatus. Since Augustus the Roman Emperors had reigned under the elaborate guise that they were not emperors, in a sense, but constitutionally appointed leaders of the Republic. The existence of the Senate and its power struggles with several emperors did much to make this disguise real. But by Diocletian’s time the last vestiges of republicanism were slowly being corroded and the last several emperors had been little more then military dictators. There were also the constant succession crises due to a plethora of heirs. Finally there was the issue of the empire becoming too big for one man to rule. Diocletian, by 293, was resolved to solve these problems in one swoop. Diocletian had originally made it so that the empire was divided into two equal pieces between himself and Maximianus, with himself in the east at Nicomedia and Maximianus in the west at Rome. But if the past nine years had taught him anything it was that the empire was too big for two men. The succession problem was also still present. So to solve these issues Diocletian decided to divide the empire a second time. Each Augustus was to take on a hand chosen man and make him his Caesar (junior emperor), this heir to get the feel of governing was put in charge of his own fourth of the empire. When the senior emperor dies his heir takes over and chooses his own heir. In one measure Diocletian had eliminated both the governing and succession problem. This system, known as Tetrarchy (Latin: Rule of Four) actually ran rather smoothly while Diocletian lived, but fell apart in Constantine’s war to rule undisputedly. Diocletian chose for his Caesar, Galerius and put him in charge of Illyricum, and Maximianus chose Constantius Chorlus, who was put in charge of Gaul and Britain. In 296 the Sassanids invaded and Diocletian was able to drive them off successfully after initial gains by the Persians seriously threatened the Roman East. However those gains inspired a revolt in Egypt by Lucius Domitius Domitianus. Soon however Domitianus died and Aurelius Achilleus took over. In 298 Diocletian crushed this short lived revolution while Caesar Galerius fought the Sassanids. This proved to be last real opposition to Diocletian, and for the first time in 50 years the Roman Empire actually experienced a peaceful period. This peaceful period proved to be just what Diocletian needed to carry out the rest of his reforms.

Now with the empire finally at peace and functionally running under the two-senior emperor two-junior emperor system Diocletian carried out the rest of his reforms. One of Diocletian’s first acts in this new peace time period was too to change the Roman monarchy into a more eastern style monarchy. He began to wear an actual crown and not the old olive wreath, he decked himself out with all sorts of gold and jewels and finery in addition to his purple robes. Diocletian also did away with the old title of Princeps (Latin: First Citizen) and instead called himself Dominus Noster (Latin: Lord and Master). To fit this Diocletian invented a long drawn system of court ritual where people rarely saw him, and those who did had to bow so low that all they saw was his feet and his hand when they had to kiss his ring. To go along with this new system Diocletian began to use the old Roman religion as a new basis for his right to rule. Diocletian declared that he and Maximianus were semi-divine, descended from Jove and Heracles, favorites in Roman mythology. Diocletian also declared that being semi-divine both he and Maximianus were the people’s only link to the gods. All of this served to create around the person of the emperor a sort of mystical, distant, and distinctly autocratic air. This new atmosphere served to make the office of emperor more stable and important then it was during the preceding era. Diocletian also reformed the administration of the empire. He started by doubling the number of provinces to 100. These provinces were then organized into thirteen new regions called dioceses, each of which was ruled by an official called a vicarius (Latin: representative). The vicarius in turn report to the Praetorian Prefect of their respective fourth of the empire. This system was designed to reduce the power of the provincial governors to rebel as well as curb the Senate’s ability to mettle. But the administration system also had the unforeseen consequence of creating a monster of a bureaucracy. Diocletian also reformed the military completely. The recent wars and strife had, to Diocletian, proven that the old military system was no longer adequate for the jobs demanded of it now. The first change was the reintroduction of conscription of Roman citizens. The second change was much more monumental. Diocletian completely did away with the old system and reorganized the Roman army into two halves: the frontier citizen militia or Limitanei which usually numbered around 4-6,000 men and the elite mobile field army stationed around the capital or Comitantenses which usually numbered 1,000 men. The system was designed with the need for a fast reaction to invasion in mind; if the empire was invaded the Limitanei would hold the enemy in place long enough for the Comitantenses to arrive. Due to the fact that the Comitantenses were stationed around each fourth’s capital and the elite nature of its troops the Comitantenses and their commanders were better paid then the Limitanei, a cause of resentment amongst the latter. Diocletian also created two new military posts, Magister Militum (Latin: Master of Soldiers) and Magister Equitum (Latin: Master of Cavalry), these two posts together served to strip away the military power of the Praetorian Prefects. All of this however taxed the Roman economy to the point of breaking and the taxation levied on the people was becoming too much to bear. Aware of this Diocletian created a new complex system of taxation that could be changed based upon region, for example a region with poor land for farming would be taxed lightly, but a region with good land for farming would be taxed heavily. In 301 Diocletian tried to curb rampant inflation by issuing the Edit of Maximum Prices in an attempt to set a standard on price and pay. But the edict backfired and just increased inflation instead. Diocletian at this point decided to leave money matters alone. However he just had to mess with domestic matters one more time by decreeing that certain occupations were essential to the survival of the empire. Due to this all people engaging in these occupations were prohibited to change careers. Diocletian also made these essential jobs hereditary and what one’s father did would be what his son and grandson and so forth would do. This measure proved to be very unpopular and went for the most part unheeded. In 303 began the last great action of Diocletian’s reign. On the advice of Caesar Galerius on February 24, 303 AD Diocletian decreed that all Christian churches and scriptures were to be destroyed, not long after Diocletian ordered all Christian leaders thrown into prison unless they made a sacrifice to him and Maximianus. This heralded in the worst Christian persecution in Roman history. The reason for this persecution was that Diocletian believed that for Rome to be stable it had to have a single religion; he viewed Christianity as the biggest threat to that unity. In April, 304 AD Diocletian issued his last edict when he decreed that all Christians had to follow the Roman state religion or die. Not long afterwards Diocletian fell ill and nearly died. On May 1, 304 AD at the age of 59 Diocletian, weary of twenty years of rule and wishing to return to his cabbage farm, announced that he was giving up the throne and retiring, the only such instance in Roman history. Diocletian forced Maximianus to go with him, though he did it reluctantly. Diocletian chose for his place of retirement his home town Spalatum, where he had a palace built. To Diocletian’s elation the succession system he worked out went splendidly with Galerius and Constantius becoming Augusti without a hitch. In 308 Diocletian, dragging Maximianus with him, momentarily left retirement to intervene at the Conference of Carnumtum. He then resumed his retirement and died peacefully on December 3rd, 311 AD at the age of 66. So died Diocletian the great reformer who saved Rome.

In conclusion Diocletian was a great reformer emperor. Diocletian arose from humble origins and became emperor of a largely broken empire. Over the course of his twenty years of rule he completely revitalized and brought back from the brink of collapse. The governmental and administrative reforms of Diocletian were possibly his greatest legacy since they laid the foundations for the Eastern Roman Empire, which outlasted the West by a thousand years.

[Biographies: Clovis]

Clovis (Frankish: Choldoweg) was a king of the Franks and the first Germanic king to convert to mainstream Christianity. Seen as the Grandfather of France and its first true king, Clovis remains important in the French national identity.

Clovis was born into a conflicting world. Due to conflicting accounts and scarcity of records we do not know the exact date of birth for Clovis. Estimates place it in about 466 AD, and in the city of Tournai (in modern Belgium). Clovis’ parents were Childeric, a king of the Salian Franks (the northern half of the Frankish people, the southern was the Ripuarian Franks) and Basina, a Thuringian princess. Not much is known of Clovis’ early life but we can construct that Clovis tried to learn as much as possible from his father. One thing we can definitely tell that Clovis learned from Childeric was his policy of dealing with the bishops of Gaul prior to his conversion. That is to sometimes take their advice and protect them. In 481 AD Childeric died and he left 16 year old Clovis to take the reigns of power as king, a job he would show everyone he could do and do well.

Clovis became king amidst great disputation. Clovis became king in 481 because he was his father’s son. But Clovis’ youth did not endear him to any of his father’s chiefs and thus Clovis would spend several years (481-486) unifying his inheritance and settling down his lands before he turned his gaze to the southwest. In 486 Clovis became undisputed king of his section of the Salian Franks (the remaining Frankish kingdoms would submit later) and he went to war with Syagrius, the Gallo-Roman comes (Latin: Count) of Gaul. Before marching to war Clovis enlisted the help of his cousins, the Salic sub-kings, but only Ragnachar replied and together the two made war on Syagrius. The decisive victory over the Gallo-Romans and Syagrius at Soissons made it clear that Clovis was the one primarily responsible for the campaign’s success. With this victory Clovis gained control over all of Gaul north of the Loire, his contemporaries called him the King of Soissons for this reason. But Syagrius had escaped to the south, to the protection of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths. Clovis dispatched a letter to Alaric calling on him to hand over Syagrius. This Alaric did and when Syagrius arrived at Soissons, the new Frank capital, he was beheaded and Clovis’ position became secure. The Gallo-Romans at first resented Clovis’ victory over them, since he was not only a barbarian but a pagan. That soon changed when Clovis did nothing to harm them or the bishops of Gaul, instead elevating the Gallo-Romans to co-equal status with the natural Franks and making the bishops unofficial advisors. Clovis then wed his sister Audofleda to the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great to secure an alliance. In 491 a small group of Thuringians invaded Clovis’ land, fearful of his power. Clovis was able to defeat them easily. The following year, 492, Clovis married Clotilda, niece of Gondebad, King of the Burgundians in a political move. Clotilda was a mainstream Christian and a firm believer. The marriage was to have a profound impact on the life of Clovis. Clovis, though a firm pagan, was well known by this time for his sympathy to the Arian sect (Arians held that Christ was made, not begotten and thus not co-equal with God the Father) of Christianity and he may have entertained the thought of becoming an Arian. With his marriage to Clotilda Clovis came into contact with mainstream Christianity for the first time, though he rejected his wife’s pleas to accept Christ several times due to the loss of his first born son eight days after baptism. Peace ensued in Clovis’ kingdom for several years after his marriage, due mostly to the great strength of Clovis’ rule and army. In 496 the Allemanni, believing that the rising power of the Franks needed to be curbed, banded together and invaded. The threat posed by the Allemanni was so great Clovis was forced to send for all of the sub-kings of the Franks to assist him, reluctantly they agreed and a grand army of the Franks met the Allemanni at Tolbiac (modern Zulpich, Germany). During this battle things at first went badly for the Franks and Clovis did something utterly surprising to his men, right there in the middle of the fighting he lifted up his hands and said: "Jesus, if you really are the Son of God as my wife tells me, grant me victory and I will believe in you." Amazingly the Franks win the battle and push back the Allemanni threat. Clovis was now convinced that his wife and the bishop Remigus (one of the first bishops to help Clovis early in his reign) were right and true to his word the Frankish king accepted Christ, being baptized in the cathedral of the town of Rhiems on Christmas Day, 496 AD (his sister Albofledis and three thousand warriors also converted that day).

With his baptism Clovis started off a new age in the Frankish Kingdom. The baptism of Clovis, one of the most influential events of its time, had immediate affects. For the first time a ‘barbarian’ king has accepted mainstream Christianity, up to this point Arian Christianity was the faith of ‘barbarian’ converts. It was a shock, and many neighboring kings resented the conversion of Clovis. One of the new Christian king’s first acts was to appoint bishop Remigus as his advisor and instructor, becoming a father figure in time. On the advice of Remigus Clovis had all idols and pagan temples in his empire destroyed. The sub-kings would resent Clovis for this and give him much grief for a few years. In contrast the common people of Clovis’ empire were overjoyed at his conversion and over time the intermingling of Gallo-Roman and Frank, now sharing a common faith in addition to common rights, resulted in the French. In the year 500 Clovis was called to settle a dispute between Clotilda’s uncles in Burgundy. Clovis did so. Upon arrival in Burgundian lands Clovis sided with Godegisil of Geneva and helped him in the battle of Dijon against Gondebad, but even though the allied forces were victorious the results were inconclusive and Clovis pulled out of the conflict by year’s end, though he left a contingent of 5,000 Franks behind to help. After this there is a lull of peace in which Clovis arranged for an alliance with Amorica (modern Brittany). In 506 AD Clovis goes to war with Alaric II and the Visigoths at the instigation of not only the bishops of Gaul (who were concerned for the welfare of the mainstream Christians amidst Arian persecution) but the Roman emperor, Anastasius I. In 507 Clovis’ Franks meet the Visigoths in battle at Vouillé (some modern historians now believe the battle was fought at Voulon) and inflict a grievous defeat on them and killing Alaric, causing a general retreat of the Visigoths out of Gaul, expect in Septimania which is shored up by Theodoric the Great, and into Hispania. Clovis follows up on this victory by taking the Visigoth capital of Toulouse, only the presence of Theodoric in Septimania keeps him from taking all of southern Gaul. When news of the victory reaches Constantinople the emperor Anastasius is so overjoyed, for Clovis’ victory has knocked out the Visigoths as an effective ally of Theodoric the Great, that he bestows on Clovis the title and trappings of the office of Consul (though Clovis does not appear on the consular lists strangely enough, this means he was probably a replacement or suffect consul). Following this Clovis turned his attention to destroying the sub-kings (Sigbert and Clotaire, Chararic, Ragnachar and Ricchar, Rigomer). After he forces the last sub-king to submit Clovis declares himself King of all Franks and he founds a new capital at Paris. From Paris Clovis creates a new administration for his empire. In this system each province is governed by a group of counts, appointed by royal decree from the Gallo-Roman and Frankish aristocracy to each town. Clovis also revises the old Lex Salica (Latin: Salic Law) to conform to Christian principles and has it finally written down. Clovis then built one of Paris’ first churches, the Church of the Holy Apostles (later renamed the Church of Saint Genevieve) and designated it as his burial ground. In 511 Clovis calls all of the bishops together to Orleans in a National Council to reform the church of Gaul and make clear the ties between King and Church (interestingly enough this becomes part of the basis for a feud in the Middle Ages between France and the Papacy). Later that year Clovis died peacefully at the age of 45, so died Clovis one of the most influential kings of the early Dark Ages.

Clovis’ death heralds in a new era of bloodshed. Following the death of Clovis his empire is divided equally between his four sons (Theuderic, Chldomer, Childebert, and Clotaire) as was Frankish custom. This brought about a time of warfare that lasted, with some rare peaceful periods, until the usurpation of the Merovingians (Clovis’ dynasty) by Charles Martel in 751 AD.

In conclusion Clovis had a great impact on history. With his conversion to mainstream Christianity he saved the Church of Gaul and reversed the trend of Arian-only conversions in the nobility. By his conquests and fair policies he brought stability amongst the chaos brought on by the decline of Rome and laid the foundation for the nation of France. All in all Clovis was one of the heroes of the Dark Ages.

[Biographies: Trajan]

Trajan was one of the greatest Roman emperors. The second of “The Five Good Emperors” (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius) and the emperor who brought Rome to her greatest height in territory, Trajan is still regarded highly today.

Trajan’s birth was unusual for one who would become Emperor. Trajan was born on September 18, 53 AD in the town of Italica in Hispania Baetica (modern Andalusia). His father was M. Ulpius Traianus and his was mother was Marica. His birth name was Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Due to scarcity of sources not much is known of Trajan’s early life except that he had ambition to follow in his father’s footsteps as a senator and received an education in Rome. For this reason young Trajan probably spent most of his adolescent years serving as a staff tribune for Legio X, which his father commanded.

It was in the 70s AD that Trajan’s career really took off. Around 75 AD when his father was governor of Syria Trajan became a legate for one of the legions and met Pompeia Plotina, a noblewoman from Gallia Narbonensis, whom he married. In 78 Trajan started on the cursus honorum and was elected quaestor. Then in 84 he was made a praetor and during this time was appointed as a guardian for his little cousin who would later become Hadrian. In 89 AD his holding a praetorship qualified Trajan for command of a legion, Legio VII Gemina. Trajan had barely just arrived at the headquarters of his new command in Hispania Tarraconensis when news arrived from Rome that the Emperor Domitian had ordered him to assist in the crushing of the rebellion of Antoninus Saturninus, governor of Upper Germania. It is probable that Saturninus was already crushed by the time Legio VII and Trajan arrived but they stayed at the Rhine anyway and participated the campaigns of Domitian against the Germanic tribes to the north. It was during these campaigns that Trajan would gain and hone the skills that made him such a legendary commander. In 91 Trajan became Consul for the first time and Domitian, who had grown to like Trajan in this time, rewarded him with the governorship of Moesia Inferior. Trajan did not spend long in Moesia for Domitian soon decided to make him governor of Upper Germania with his headquarters at Moguntiacum (modern Mainz). On September 18, 96 AD, Trajan’s 43rd birthday, Domitian was assassinated and the elderly Nerva was put forth as the new emperor. The Senate, having put up with the autocratic Domitian long enough, eagerly accepted Nerva as emperor. Nerva realized very soon that he was not popular with the army, and the emperor who did not have the support of the army was bound to be a dead one real soon. So in October, 97 AD Nerva adopted Trajan as his son and successor, prompting a name change to Caesar Nerva Traianus Germanicus. News reached Trajan of his adoption by way of Hadrian. The Senate had no problems with Trajan and accepted, the army was overjoyed at the choice of their most popular commander for Caesar. On January 1, 98 AD Trajan, who was still in Germania, was made Consul alongside Nerva and invested with the powers of tribunicia potestas making Trajan joint emperor with Nerva. However Nerva’s reign would not last long, on January 29, 98 AD he died unexpectedly in his sleep. Almost immediately the Senate accepted Trajan as Emperor and the Army universally acclaimed him in what was probably the smoothest transition of power in Roman history. The Senate bestowed upon the absent Trajan the new name Caesar Divi Nervae Filius Nerva Traianus Augustus.

Trajan’s ascension marked a fresh beginning for Rome. Despite being made Emperor Trajan did not leave his post in Germania upon receiving the news. Instead he remained in Germania for the entire year of 98 AD overseeing the finalization of the defenses (the famous limes) the settling in of the military garrisons. He did send orders to Rome however for the execution of the Praetorians who forced Nerva to kill Domitian’s killers. Trajan finally left Germania in 99 and on his way to Rome he made a detour into the provinces of Moesia and Pannonia and during his time there made preparations for a campaign against the Dacians, whose actions had gone unpunished long enough. Finally Trajan arrived in Rome, marching on foot as a sign of his humility, to the cheers of adoring crowds and the applause of the Senators, a rare warm reception in Roman history. One of Trajan’s first acts was to give a generous gift of cash and grain to the poor people in Rome and lower the tax rate as well. Trajan also instituted (although this often is erroneously attributed to Nerva) the alimenta, an state institution that appropriated public funds to the support of the poor children of the Italian peninsula. Trajan did not forget his other duties and saw to the state honoring of Nerva and the reversal of the harsh policies of Domitian, freeing and restoring to rank several falsely accused individuals. The people loved Trajan for his actions and began, even though his reign had barely begun, to call him Optimus (Latin: The Best), and before long this appeared in his name, even though it would be several years before the Senate bestowed the title on him officially. It was during this time (100 AD) that Hadrian, in order to strengthen ties to his cousin married Sabina, Trajan’s favorite niece. However Trajan’s thoughts were constantly on the Dacians, they had shamed Rome during the reign of Domitian and Trajan was determined to erase that shame at all costs by subduing Dacia. To further preparations Trajan began moving a total of thirteen legions from Germania and Britannia to Moesia and Pannonia; he also established two new legions for the campaign: Legio II Traiana and Legio XXX Ulpia. Incidentally this brought the total number of legions up to thirty and the number dedicated to the campaign up to fifteen, meaning that Trajan was concentrating half of Rome’s military might on Dacia.

Now having completed his preparations Trajan set his eyes on his prize. On March 25th, 101 AD Rome went to war with Dacia for the third time, this time around Trajan was in command. Trajan had in his employ the famed architect Apollodorus of Damascus, whose skills were to be put to the test in the Dacian campaign. Early on Apollodorus builds a sixty tier bridge over the Danube to allow the massive army into Dacia. Decebalus, the king of Dacia, sought to stop the Romans by adopting a scorched earth policy and concentrating his army at the Iron Gates. But Trajan had foreseen the possibility and had a huge supply train to feed his troops with as they rapidly advanced across Dacia. At the Iron Gates the Romans faced off with the Dacians for the first time and during the hard fighting Apollodorus pulled off his greatest feat yet, constructing a roadway that cantilevered up the sheer rock face. After a huge bloody battle Decebalus and his army retreated, Trajan had won his way through the gateway into Dacia. In the winter months of 101 AD Trajan would spend most of his time chasing Decebalus across Moesia. In the spring of 102 Trajan renewed his assault on Dacia with startling swiftness; nothing the Dacians could do was capable of stopping the determined Trajan, not even a last ditch defense in the mountains. After crashing through the Carpathian Mountains Trajan divides the Roman army in two, in order to overwhelm the Dacians and after the taking of Sarmizegetusa (the Dacian capital) Trajan accepts a frantic peace delegation from Decebalus. Trajan had an ulterior motive for this: The Roman troops are growing weary because of the swift pace that Trajan set, he needed a respite. At the meeting with Decebalus Trajan dictates his terms: The ceding of a large chunk of Dacian land, the disarmament of the Dacian army and lastly Decebalus had to accept Trajan as his overlord. Decebalus accepts and Trajan goes home to Rome where he finds that the Senate has bestowed a triumph upon him and seen fit to add the title Dacius (Latin: Conqueror of Dacia) to his name. Trajan accepts the accolades of victory and rests, but it will not last long.

Despite his victory Trajan is forced to return to Dacia to finish them off after three years of peace. In 105 AD the Dacians launch a surprise attack on the Roman garrisons in the lands gained in the last war, slaughtering them to a man and retaking the territory. This stirs up the Iazyges to the north and when news reaches Trajan of this he is furious and sets out to deal with Decebalus once and for all. 11 legions are moved to the Dacian frontier and in the summer Trajan arrives after recovering from a Dacian attempt on his life in Rome. For the rest of 105 Trajan fends off a mass attack on his army by the Dacians, and even though the fighting is fierce the Romans survive. In 106 AD Trajan orders a counterattack and this time around takes his time to destroy the Dacians completely. In everyplace there is resistance the Romans completely destroy it and massacre the population, in this way Trajan hopes to convey that he is not playing nice. After the Romans once again break through the last defense in the Carpathians Decebalus calls on every Dacian warrior to come to Sarmizegetusa for protection. Trajan notices this and decides to send his best legions to attack Sarmizegetusa: Legio II “Adriutix”, Legio IV “Flavia Felix”, and a vexillatio (Latin: detachment) from Legio VI “Ferrata”. The first assault Trajan made against Sarmizegetusa failed miserably, and this made Trajan realize this would be a long siege unless he did something. When the water supply was discovered Trajan had it cut so that the garrison would die of thirst. To speed things up Trajan ordered all catapults to start firing flaming rocks over the walls and into the city, this flaming bombardment would kill Venzia the high priest. When the Romans entered the city they found that Decebalus and some of his men had escaped. However news soon reached Trajan that some soldiers had discovered a cave with the entire Dacian treasury inside (which is estimated to have weighed 165,500 kilos in gold and 331,000 in silver). This find was a great boon to Trajan since the Roman treasury was small due to the fact that he refused to levy heavy taxes on the people. Following on the heels of discovery was the news that Decebalus was hiding at Porolissum. Moving fast Trajan was able to keep the Dacians boxed in and he defeated them for the last time. But Decebalus once again fled, but Trajan sent cavalry after him. In the wilds of Dacia the rouge king committed suicide ending the war. At long last the war with Dacia was over, Rome had won. Dacia would be reorganized by Trajan into a Roman province and colony and the gold and silver mines would enrich Roman coffers for centuries to come. When Trajan returned to Rome he celebrated a magnificent triumph that would last 123 days. Now with a treasury that held more money then he knew how to deal with Trajan looked forward to a peaceful period of rest, which he got.

With the Dacian Wars concluded Trajan now focused on domestic matters in the Empire. At the outset of his new domestic period Trajan had Apollodorus create a huge forum (now known Trajan’s Forum) with as the center piece a magnificent sculpted column that told the history of the Dacian Wars. Trajan’s Column, as it is now known, remains a wealth of information for us. While his forum and column were under construction Trajan learned that Rabbel Soter, King of Nabatea, had died and left his realm to Trajan. Nabatea would become the new province of Arabia Petraea, and Trajan’s popularity continued to soar due to amazement at this. Following this Trajan created a new administrative post, the post of curator. These curators were responsible for overseeing the financial affairs of the provinces. The most well known curator was Pliny the Younger whose letters with Trajan are famous as an insight into the mind of the Emperor. Trajan also began using more men from the equestrian class in the imperial ministries and less freedmen, a trend that culminated under Hadrian. Trajan also saw to the expansion of the alimenta, wanting to make sure that all orphans were fed and clothed. An Arch dedicated to Trajan in Beneventum (modern Benevento) highlights this in its reliefs. Trajan did not neglect beautifying the cities of the empire, especially Rome and his native Spanish cities. As mentioned above Trajan began building his forum almost as soon as the celebrations over the Dacian victory were over. Trajan’s Forum was to prove to be the largest and grandest of all the Roman forums and it was also Apollodorus’ masterpiece contruction. The centerpiece of Trajan’s Forum was the Basilica Ulpia, the largest building under a wooden roof in Roman history. The massive courtyard of the forum contained a mounted statue of Trajan, the famous Trajan’s Column, and two libraries one on each side of the courtyard, one for Latin scrolls and the other for Greek (Hadrian later added a temple). To the north of the forum were Trajan’s Markets, which served as a ancient shopping mall and headquarters for the agency responsible for grain distribution to the poor. The last significant building project in Rome itself was Trajan’s Baths, the first of the huge bath complexes. Trajan also built extensively outside of Rome, Trajan’s Arch, mentioned above, was the beginning point of the Via Traiana (Latin: Trajan’s Way) a road that went from Beneventum on down to Brundisium that replaced the old Via Appia (Latin: Appian’s Way). Trajan also added to the harbors of Italy with his contruction. A new hexagonal harbor complex at Ostia made that city Italy’s premier harbor, replacing the old harbor at Puteoli. The harbors of Terracina and Anacona also profited from Trajan’s building spree. The last of these harbor projects was at Centumcellae (modern Civitavecchia) whose new harbor made the city a vacation spot from Roman nobles, including the Emperor. Trajan’s last great building project was the beautification of his home land of Hispania. Not much of Trajan’s work in Spain survives except for a great bridge at Alcantara and a triumphal arch in Merida.

Trajan could not stay in domestic affairs forever, being a soldier at heart, and in 113 AD things picked up again. Around 113 AD Osroes I of Parthia, one of two rival kings, invaded Armenia and put his nephew Exedares on the throne. This move unsettled the careful balance of power in the Middle East that had been in place for fifty years, since Nero, and Trajan was not going to put up with it. He ordered a mobilization of Roman forces and ordered them to concentrate at Antioch in Syria. Osroes tried to please the Romans by putting his brother Parthamasiris on the throne, but Trajan would not be appeased and as soon as he arrived in Antioch the Romans invaded Armenia and overran the kingdom, killing Parthamasiris and annexing the land to Rome. Trajan then turned to invade Parthia itself in 114, invading from Armenia. Over the next three years Trajan trounced Osroes thoroughly, taking the key cities of Babylon and Seleukeia with ease. Despite numerous pleas from Osroes and a determined defense from the Parthians to defend their home the Romans bulldozed through, culminating the fall of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon (modern Baghdad) in early 116. Osroes was summarily dethroned and Trajan placed the captured son of Osroes, Parthamaspates on the Parthian throne as a client king. For this Trajan received the title of Parthicus (Latin: Conqueror of Parthia) from the Senate, Trajan also learned that in 114 the senate had voted to give Trajan the title “Optimus Princeps” (Latin: Best First Citizen) to add to his name. Meanwhile along the Persian Gulf Mirthadates IV, brother of Osroes, declared himself King. To Trajan this was unacceptable and he marched to deal with Mirthadates, crushing him. At this point ancient sources say Trajan wept because he was too old now to match Alexander’s legacy of conquest. Nevertheless Trajan did lead an expedition through the Khuzestan Mountains and captured Susa. Troubles now arose, the city of Hatra back to the west was still holding out against a Roman siege despite its position and when Trajan traveled to Hatra to deal with the problem himself he suffered from a heat stroke and was forced to command from the rear, in the city of Selinus. Revolts then broke out in the newly declared province of Mesopotamia and Judea towards year’s end and Trajan was able to coordinate from Selinus the crushing of these rebellions. However as the new year of 117 dawned Trajan’s health began to decline fast, as his last command Trajan appointed Hadrian as commander-in-chief in the east. On August 19, 117 AD Trajan died at Selinus of edema, so passed Trajan one of the greatest emperors of all Roman history at the age of 64.

Trajan’s legacy would have a long effect on Rome. In the immediate aftermath of Trajan’s death Hadrian became the next emperor, although Trajan had never named him heir. It is commonly believed that Hadrian became heir only due to the favor of Trajan’s wife Pompeia Plotina, who outlasted her husband by three years. In the more far reaching aftermath Trajan's accomplishments were so great that even into the Byzantine era each new reign was opened in the Senate with the prayer: “Felicior Augusto, Melior Traiano” (Latin: May he be luckier then Augustus and better then Trajan). Perhaps most interestingly enough is that Trajan is one of those rare individuals whose reputation had remained untarnished by time for 1,900 years.

[Biographies: Germanicus Caesar]

Germanicus Caesar was a great general of the early Roman Empire. Loved by his troops and the common person to the point they wished him to be Emperor the popularity of Germanicus long outlasted the man himself.

Germanicus was born into greatness. In 15 B.C. in the city of Rome Germanicus was born. His father was Drusus the Elder, a stepson of Augustus, and his mother was Antonia Minor, a niece of Augustus. At the time of his birth Germanicus was known as Tiberius Claudius Nero. When Drusus died while Germanicus was still young in 9 B.C. his father’s title of “Germanicus” passed down to his sons, causing a name change to Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus. Not much is known of Germanicus’ early life, but we do know some things. Of his education we know that he focused on military history, writing, and public speaking. In 4 AD came the biggest change in Germanicus’ early life. The Emperor Augustus’ two newest heirs and grandsons, Gaius and Lucius, had died in close succession to each other (2 AD and 4 AD) and this caused problems. Augustus had long been considering Germanicus for his heir, but knew this would cause problems with the boy’s uncle Tiberius. So Augustus came up with a compromise, he would adopt Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus for his heirs. They in turn had to adopt their heirs, and Augustus forced Tiberius to choose Germanicus rather then his own son Drusus the Younger. This flurry of adoptions caused a second and final name change for Germanicus, who’s new name was Germanicus Iulius Caesar. Augustus was not done yet, and he planned Germanicus’ marriage, pairing him Agrippina the Elder. Thus Germanicus’ life was already set for adventure even before his coming of age.

Germanicus began his military and political career at twenty. In 7 AD Germanicus embarked on his political career (Latin: cursus honorum) when he was made quaestor, even though he was five years too young for the job. When his uncle Tiberius marched to quash a revolt along the Danube frontier Germanicus went along with him. He preformed so well in that action that when he returned with Tiberius in 9 AD Germanicus was given the ornmenta triumphalia (a triumph with out the parade) he also discovered that he was a praetor in all but name. However all was not happy, for not long after all this news reached Rome of the massacre at Teutoburg Forest. Tiberius was dispatched to secure the German frontier before year’s end; Germanicus was kept at home to fulfill his duties. In 11 AD Germanicus joined his uncle in Germania and earned great victories there before being recalled to Rome the following year to serve out his term as Consul. As Consul Germanicus did much to increase his popularity, such as appearing as an advocate in the courts and throwing gladiatorial games. Germanicus’ rising star made him a serious contender in the race to see who succeeded Augustus, while it was true that Tiberius was heir (Agrippa Postumus had fallen from favor in 6 AD) no one expected him to live long. The only other man in Rome to challenge Germanicus was his cousin and adopted brother: Drusus the Younger. In 13 AD Augustus rewarded Germanicus’ good service with the governorship of Upper and Lower Germania and command of eight full legions. Then in August, 14 AD Augustus died in Rome and Tiberius became Emperor, almost immediately army revolts broke out due to loss of pay and discharge all over the Empire. At the time Germanicus was taking census in Lugdunum (modern Lyons) and when news reached him of the revolts he hurried back to camp. Upon arrival his troops offered to acclaim Germanicus as their new Emperor, and march on Rome with him at the head. But Germanicus refused, he was too loyal to do such a thing. Germanicus had to find some way to stop the revolt, at first he tried threatening to commit suicide but some soldiers were actually willing to help him carry it out. He then forged a letter from Tiberius basically giving the soldiers everything they wanted, but this resulted in the near murder of two Imperial envoys when an actual letter from Tiberius arrived. Things escalated when the soldiers threatened to kill Germanicus’ pregnant wife and young son. After managing to get his family out to safety Germanicus turned his men on each other and just to be sure set out on a campaign across the Rhine to lay waste to the Marsi and Ems valley. Despite all of this Germanicus remained the soldiers’ favorite commander, and this was heightened by the appearance of Germanicus’ young son dressed as a soldier in front of the legions, who named him Caligula (Latin: Little Boots) and made the boy a sort of honorary army mascot. In 15 AD Germanicus launched a campaign of revenge against the Cherusci chieftain Arminius for the massacre of Teutoburg. While on campaign Germanicus and his army discovered the remains of Varus’ lost legions and buried their bones with honors. He was also able to recover one of the lost legionary eagles. Due to the marshy terrain Germanicus’ 15 AD campaign ended inconclusively. In 16 he tried again, this time in a combined operation by land and water, making great use of Drusus the Elder’s canal system. Germanicus engaged Arminius at a place called Idistaviso and there defeated him, he also recovered a second lost eagle. While not a decisive victory Idistaviso did permanently set the boundary of Roman Germania at the Elbe. When Germanicus arrived back in Rome in the spring of 17 AD he found that Tiberius had bestowed upon him a full triumph, which took place on May 26, 17 AD (interestingly enough this was the last time a triumph was given to a non-emperor or non-future emperor). During the triumph everyone cheered Germanicus, even the Praetorian Guard, and Tiberius became fearful that the populace and army would make Germanicus Emperor even if he refused to take the title. Tiberius needed an excuse, any excuse, to get Germanicus out of Rome and someplace else. In 18 AD he found his excuse, a dispute over succession in Armenia, and so bundled Germanicus off to the east.

The eastern command was Germanicus’ last. In 18 AD succession problems in Armenia forced the Emperor Tiberius to intervene, his intervention was in the form of Germanicus, whom he invested with extraordinary powers of authority (Latin: Maius Imperium) over all officials in the east upon assuming his second Consulship (this in vesture is just one step below being made joint Emperor). Germanicus made his way to his new command by way of an extended tour of the east, touching on various places such as Actium, Athens, and Troy. After arriving at Antioch Germanicus came into immediate conflict with the newly appointed governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Piso was by nature, according to Taticus, a violent and ambitious man and the two men constantly clashed over anything and everything. This rivalry even extended down to their wives, who constantly tried to outdo each other. Despite the thorn of Piso Germanicus was able to do his duty in Asia when he solved the Armenian succession problem by putting the pro-Roman Artaxias on the throne. He also waged a short war against Cappadocia and Commagena in Asia Minor and turned them into Roman provinces. In early 19 AD Germanicus set out to take a tour of Egypt, which was suffering from a famine at the time. On his way to Egypt Germanicus stopped to view the local historical landmarks, like he did on his way to Antioch. Once in Egypt Germanicus endeared himself to the people by acting a like a common citizen and displaying great generosity. This greatly irked Tiberius, since Egypt was directly under the control of the Emperor and no man above senatorial rank could enter without express Imperial permission. In the eyes of many people by his actions in Egypt Germanicus was trying to outdo Tiberius, and Tiberius did not like that at all (although many have argued that Germanicus was actually oblivious to the fact that he was breaking the law). When Germanicus left Egypt to return to Antioch he found that Piso had undone everything he had set in place before his departure. For Germanicus this was the last straw, he had put up with Piso long enough. Germanicus promptly renounced his friendship with Piso, stripped him of his office, and banished him from Syria. Piso left, surprisingly enough, peacefully and he retired to an island off the coast of Syria. Shortly there after while visiting the town of Epidaphne near Antioch Germanicus fell ill due to unknown causes, though by the black and blue markings on his body poisoning was suspected. He died on October 10, 19 AD at the age of 34, so died Germanicus Caesar the great general and beloved of the army and common person.

Germanicus left a great mark on Rome for years to come. In the immediate aftermath of the death of Germanicus a grand funeral was held in Rome and the grief of the people over his death was overwhelming. Piso, who was suspected of poisoning Germanicus, was put on trial upon his arrival in Rome and he was convicted, though Piso killed himself before the verdict arrived. The popularity of Germanicus outlasted the man himself and the future emperors Caligula and Claudius, and by limited extent, Nero, all maintained their holds on their title by virtue of the love the people had for Germanicus. In conclusion though Germanicus’ life was short, his influence in Rome would last for a very long time

[Biographies: Demetrios I Poliorketes]

Demetrios I Poliorketes (English: Demetrius I the Besieger) was one of the early second generation Diadochi. He was the first king of the Antigonid dynasty of Macedon, but he is best remembered for his famous siege skills.

Demetrios was born shortly before the invasion of Persia. Demetrios was born in the year 337 B.C., his birth place is unknown but it is most commonly believed to be the Macedonian capital of Pella. His father was a veteran general under Philip II named Antigonos Monophthalmus (English: Antigonus the One-Eyed) and his mother was Stratonike, daughter of Corrhaeus the nobleman. Not much is known of Demetrios before his 22nd birthday, what little we do know comes from the ancient historian Plutarch. According to Plutarch when Demetrios was young he knew a young man his own age named Mirthadates and his father Ariobarzanes. At some point Antigonos had a dream, in which he sowed a golden crop, but when he went to harvest it the crop was already gone. Because of gossip Antigonos came to suspect that Mirthadates stole his golden crop and he planned on killing him. This he told Demetrios, with strict orders to not let anyone know. But Demetrios did not want his friend killed so on one of their hunting trips (a favorite Macedonian pastime) Demetrios took Mirthadates aside and traced the words “Fly Mirthadates” with his javelin tip so that he did not break his oath of silence to Antigonos. Mirthadates, taking Demetrios’ advice, fled to Asia Minor and purchased territory there. That territory would later become the kingdom of Pontus.

We get the first solid mention of Demetrios in 312 B.C. When Demetrios turned 22 years old in the year 312 B.C. Ptolemy Lagus, as a part of a joint effort by all of the Diadochi to topple Antigonos, invaded the province of Syria (Modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel). Antigonos, who was in Phrygia province in Asia Minor and planning an offensive against Cassander, sent Demetrios to defend Syria in his first real test of generalship. Demetrios did so and set his line of defense on the city of Gaza. Despite his best attempts Demetrios lost to the combined forces of Ptolemy and Seleukos at Gaza and he retreated to Tripolis in Phoenicia. Demetrios regrouped his forces at Tripolis and waited. Ptolemy sent his commander Cilles into Phoenicia to drive Demetrios out of Syria altogether, but Cilles was overconfident and Demetrios ambushed him near Myus, winning a great victory. The defeat of Cilles caused Ptolemy to retreat from Syria and seek a ceasefire with Antigonos, who graciously accepted. Antigonos then decided to send Demetrios into the desert to conquer the Nabathaeans. Demetrios was able to easily conquer them through a show of military might and after becoming laden with tribute set out to return to his father. Not long afterwards Seleukos reclaimed Babylon and took Persia, Susiana, and Media away from Antigonos. Infuriated Antigonos dispatched Demetrios in 311 on a raid of Seleukos’ new territories, especially Babylon, while Antigonos held him down elsewhere. Demetrios advanced rapidly wreaking destruction where ever he went, but none of this would even faze Seleukos. When Demetrios reached Babylon he took one of the two citadels that protected the city and then proceeded to allow his men to run wild, each man taking as much as he could carry. After several days of this Demetrios left Babylon and Seleukid territory, returning to his father’s lands. In 308 B.C. the war against Ptolemy and allies resumed. Demetrios was charged with the attack on the province of Cilicia and the island of Cyprus. In 307 after Demetios broke the Ptolemaic siege of Halicarnassus, Antigonos decided that now was time to invade Greece. At the time Macedon and Greece were ruled by the regent Cassander, who oppressed the people heavily. Against the word of his advisors Antigonos decided the best place to begin his attack on Greece was on the city of Athens. So he sent Demetrios with 5,000 talents and a fleet of 250 warships to take the city. Amazingly Demetrios was able to sail right up into the port of Piraeus with out being detected, by the time Demetrius the Phalerian, Cassander’s governor, realized what was happening Demetrios had already declared to the people his intention to liberate Athens and restore the democratic government. The Athenians immediately handed their city over to Demetrios, who expelled the governor and laid siege to Munychia (the home of the garrison) and Megara (another garrison post). Megara surrendered without a fight and out of respect for the philosopher Stilpo ordered his men to be on their best behavior in the city. After wrapping up his business at Megara Demetrios went to Munychia, which he took after a difficult assault. Upon destroying Munychia’s walls Demetrios went into Athens proper for the first time where he reaffirmed his earlier promise at Piraeus and in addition announced that Antigonos was going to give them enough wheat to feed the city for a long time to come, as well as enough timber to build a fleet of a hundred warships. The Athenians loved Demetrios and his father for this and hailed them as kings, but Demetrios declined the title out of loyalty to Alexander’s heir (who unknown to Demetrios was already dead). So the Athenians instead gave Demetrios the title Soter (English: Savior) and made him and his father tutelary deities. Because of this new title Demetrios was obliged to stay in Athens for an extended period of time, during which he married several women, among them Eurydice (a descendent of Miltiades) and Phila (the widow of Alexander’s general Craterus). In 306 Antigonos recalled Demetrios from Athens to fight Ptolemaic forces in Cyprus. After wrapping up some loose ends in Greece Demetrios set sail for Cyprus, where he ambushed Ptolemy’s brother Menelaus, causing him to flee to Salamis. Then the main Ptolemaic fleet under Ptolemy himself arrived. Ptolemy told Demetrios to flee if he valued his life, Demetrios countered with telling Ptolemy to flee and remove his garrisons from Greece. Infuriated by what he perceived as arrogance on the part of Demetrios, Ptolemy ordered Menelaus to strike out of Salamis and hit Demetrios in the rear. But Demetrios was able to anticipate this and used ten of his vessels to block Salamis harbor, and then turned to fall on Ptolemy. In the ensuing naval battle the Ptolemaic forces were so devastated that the naval power of the Ptolemaic dynasty would be broken for many years to come. At the news of this victory Antigonos left Asia Minor for Cyprus where he, riding the wave of popularity, declared himself Basileos (English: King). At the suggestion of his advisors Antigonos declared Demetrios a king as well and his equal in all matters of state. Within months the other Diadochi followed suite and the unified empire came to an end, beginning a new era of war and bloodshed.

Now a king Demetrios set out to make the royal authority felt throughout the former empire of Alexander. One of the first things that Demetrios did as a king was aid his father in a land-sea operation against Ptolemy. Unfortunately Antigonos was now eighty years old, and unable to keep up with the rigors of an army march and so, after concluding a treaty with Ptolemy, he left much of the running of the new kingdom to Demetrios while he retired in luxury. After the formal handing over of power Demetrios devoted himself to the advancement of technology in the field of ship building and siege machines. Demetrios had a fascination with the mechanical and he loved designing new ships and new siege weapons. Already his five and six decked oared warships were famous, but it was the siege engines that gained him his title of Poliorketes. In 305 B.C. Demetrios turned his attention on the island of Rhodes. This island had originally been an ally of his father, but during the recent war defected to Ptolemy, Demetrios saw this as a dishonor that must be punished. So he laid siege to the island of Rhodes, and during this siege unveiled his greatest siege weapons: the Tortoise ram and Helepolis siege tower. The Tortoise ram was an enormous armored battering ram 180 feet long with a 1,000 man crew needed to operate it. The Helepolis (English: City Taker) was the largest siege weapon of its time, a massive armored wheeled tower that stood 125 feet tall, 60 feet wide and weighting 360,000 pounds. Despite these great engines Rhodes held out and Demetrios was beginning to get impatient and looking for a way to quit the siege but still save face. He got his wish when an Athenian diplomatic party arrived asking him to come to their aid against Cassander. Demetrios agreed to come, but only if the Athenians brokered a peace with Rhodes, this they agreed to do and a peace treaty in which Rhodes promised to support Demetrios against all enemies except Ptolemy was signed in 304. Before Demetrios left for Greece the Rhodians asked him not to dismantle the Helepolis towers, so that they could have a monument to the siege. Demetrios agreed and the Rhodians used the material from the Helepolis to build the famous “Colossus of Rhodes”, they also are the ones who first called Demetrios ‘Poliorketes’. In Greece Cassander was besieging Athens, but Demetrios and his fleet of 330 warships broke the siege and chased Cassander all the way to Thermopylae and beyond. Demetrios declared independence for all cities on his side of Thermopylae and just to be safe made an alliance with the Boeotians. The Athenians in thanks bestowed even more gifts on Demetrios, and gave him the back temple of the Parthenon to live in. But Demetrios soon proves to not be the hero the Athenians thought he was as his excessiveness causes much discomfort. After a while Demetrios invades the Peloponnesian peninsula and one by one the cities join him, fall to him, or are bribed. At Argos Demetrios marries Deidamia, the sister of his commander Pyrrhos of Epirus. At Sicyon Demetrios forced the people to move to a new location and renames the city after himself. With this the Greeks meet at Corinth and declare Demetrios to be the new Hegemon, a title left vacant since Alexander’s death. Upon assuming the title Demetrios returned to Athens and stated his wish to be initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. Demetrios also stated he wished to go through all of the stages at once, something forbidden by the rules. Nevertheless Demetrios got his way, but the Athenians began to resent him. In 301 Seleukos had formed another league against Antigonos, and the old king recalled Demetrios back from Greece. Despite his age insisted upon leading his forces himself and so assembled an army larger then the allied army of Lysimachos and Seleukos. The two armies faced off at Ipsus. In the ensuing battle Demetrios led the bulk of the cavalry and was able to rout Antiochus, the son of Seleukos off the field. However Demetrios overextended himself and became disconnected from the battle. When word reached Demetrios about the defeat of the main body and the death of Antigonos he ordered a retreat to Ephesus to regroup.

With Antigonos now dead a new part of the adventurous life of Demetrios began. When Demetrios reached Ephesus it was commonly believed he would loot the city, but he did not and instead planned to rest up and make way to Athens. But the Athenians had taken the opportunity offered by recent events to bar Demetrios’ entry into their city. Angry, Demetrios set sail for Greece, but not to attack Athens. Instead he made way to Corinth and appointed his brother-in-law Pyrrhos to stabilize what little of Greece remained loyal to him. Demetrios then turned to attack the lands of Lysimachos, whose lands he ravaged thoroughly for some time. Not long after leaving Lysimachos’ territory in 298 B.C. Seleukos sent a marriage proposal to Demetrios, asking for the hand in marriage of Demetrios’ daughter Stratonike. Demetrios was quite happy to oblige Seleukos and set sail for Syria. Along the way Demetrios was forced to land his ships along the Asia Minor coast line several times. When he did so in Cilicia, Plistarchus, the king of Cilicia, cried that his rights had been violated amongst other things by these landings. Demetrios was enraged by this and he took the city of Quinda in response, then he promptly returned to his fleet. Not long afterwards Demetrios and Seleukos met at Rhosus in Syria and Stratonike married Seleukos. After making sure that Stratonike was alright in Antioch Demetrios left Syria and took the rest of Cilicia from Plistarchus. About this time Deidamia, who was traveling from Greece to meet Demetrios, died and Seleukos suggested that Demetrios marry Ptolemais, daughter of Ptolemy for the dual purpose of relieving Demetrios of his grief and reconciliation with Ptolemy. Demetrios agreed and Ptolemy gave Demetrios the cities of Tyre and Sidon as a gift. Peace now reigned, but it was quickly broken. In 294 Seleukos asked for Cilicia, Tyre, and Sidon. Demetrios refused, stating he would rather lose ten thousand Ipsus’ then give Seleukos the land he wanted. While fortifying his land in preparation for the invasion Demetrios received word that Lachares had taken over Athens and threatened all of Greece. Demetrios immediately set sail for Athens, but a freak storm off the coast of Attica (the region containing Athens) wiped out a good number of ships and men. Demetrios sent for another fleet while he himself led the remnant of his army to besiege Messena. One by one the cities of the Peloponnesian peninsula either fell to or re joined Demetrios and after securing the last city he advanced up into Attica. In Attica Demetrios strove to strangle Athens into submission, for this purpose he took the cities of Eleusis and Rhamnus and wasted the countryside. When Demetrios was done Athens was completely cut off from re supply by land. To make sure that none of the other Greeks would try to help Athens by sea Demetrios ordered the public hanging of the captain and cargo supervisor of a corn ship trying to get to Athens. Ptolemy, alarmed at what Demetrios was doing, sent 150 galleys to Athens to relieve the siege. But just as the Ptolemaic fleet got close the fleet Demetrios sent for arrived and drove them off. Athens, now without hope and Lachares gone, sent a peace delegation to Demetrios in hopes he would have mercy upon them. Amazingly Demetrios was not angry with Athens and treated the city kindly, forgiving them for refusing him entrance back in 301. Demetrios then marched against Sparta, the one city that did not submit to even Alexander. Demetrios defeated Sparta twice, the first at Mantinea the second near Sparta itself; nothing could stop him for conquering Sparta. But Sparta never fell; for on the eve of his entrance into the city Demetrios received word that his holdings in Asia (Cilicia, Tyre, and Sidon) had fallen to Lysimachos, and that Ptolemy had taken all of Cyprus save Salamis. This news caused Demetrios to move off from Sparta and make preparations for a counter attack. But just as he was doing this more news arrived. Cassander was dead and his heir Philip did not long survive his father. As a result a war broke out between Cassander’s remaining sons, Antipater and Alexander in late 294. When Antipater murdered their mother Alexander called for help from Pyrrhos and Demetrios. When Pyrrhos stole a large slice of Macedon out from under Alexander the prince endeavored to stop Demetrios from entering Macedon through trickery. But Demetrios learned of it and turned the tables on Alexander, killing him. For the people of Macedon this was a good sign, they invited Demetrios to come in and rule. This Demetrios did and after arranging for Antipater’s murder he was made King of Macedon at the end of 294 B.C. Soon after the beginning of his reign Demetrios marched south to deal with the Boeotians. The Boeotians in turn asked Sparta for help. But the Spartans withdrew after Demetrios actually entered Boeotia and they surrendered. As Demetrios was wrapping it up in Boeotia word came that Lysimachos had been captured and Demetrios immediately left in hopes of taking over Thrace. In his absence the Boeotians revolted and Pyrrhos invaded from Epirus. When word came of this and Lysimachos’ escape Demetrios turned back and sent his son Antigonos Gonatas to deal with Boeotia while he dealt with Pyrrhos. But Pyrrhos refused to give battle and fled, leaving Demetrios free to join his son against Boeotia. As it turned out this became the norm of the next seven years, every time Demetrios left Macedon to either take care of something in Greece, Thessaly, or anywhere else Pyrrhos would show up and raid him. They almost never met face to face because Pyrrhos always fled before Demetrios arrived. In 288 B.C. after recovering from an illness and driving out Pyrrhos yet again Demetrios began a massive military buildup in preparation for a grand invasion of Asia with the purpose of regaining his father’s empire. In alarm at these developments Ptolemy and Lysimachos banded together to stop the invasion. The two Diadoch also enlisted the aid of Pyrrhos in the invasion. Finally around mid 288 the allies made their attack, Ptolemy attacked by sea, Lysimachos and Pyrrhos by land. Demetrios put up a good defense but a combination of allied determination and his own citizens’ disaffection caused the collapse of Antigonid forces first in Macedon and later in Greece. After an unsuccessful attempt to force his way into Athens, Demetrios left for Asia Minor landing at Caria in Lysimachos’ territory. Despite early success, such as the taking of Sardis, Demetrios is forced to flee due to the advance of Agathocles, son of Lysimachos. Demetrios’ intention is to march out of Asia Minor and into Armenia where he can settle down. However famine and disease wreaked havoc on Demetrios’ forces and this forces him to seek shelter in the city of Tarsus and ask for aid from Seleukos. At first Seleukos seems willing to put aside their conflict and help Demetrios, but in the end masses an army and marches to Tarsus. Demetrios packed up and fled into the Tarsus Mountain range once news reached him. In the mountains Demetrios sends Seleukos letters asking for permission to settle amongst the petty tribes in the desert or at least give him enough food to last the coming winter (286-285). Seleukos refuses and blocks up the passages out of the mountains and into Syria. In desperation Demetrios launches an attack on Seleukos’ forces and inflicts a series of defeats upon him. This puts his army in seemingly high spirits and it seems that perhaps Demetrios is still a great threat, when unexpectedly he fell ill. The troops become disheartened by their king’s illness and many desert to Seleukos’ advancing forces. When Demetrios recovered he marched his remaining forces into Cilicia to attack the low country. When Seleukos discovers this he follows Demetrios’ path and falls into a trap. But Seleukos is warned of this and when Demetrios tries to disengage in fear of losing his small army they all desert him upon Seleukos’ promises of food. Demetrios attempts to escape into the deep forest to commit suicide but rethinks his plan and surrenders to Seleukos in early 285 B.C. Seleukos treated Demetrios kindly and had him interned into a resort-prison in Apamea. When word of Demetrios’ capture got out Antigonos Gonatas offered everything he had, even his own freedom, for his father’s release. But Seleukos refused these offers, stating he would release Demetrios when Stratonike requested it. But Stratonike does not request her father’s release and when Demetrios realized this he drank himself to death in 283 B.C. So died Demetrios I Poliorketes, the great taker of cities and threat to the Macedonian world’s stability, at the age of 54.

In conclusion Demetrios I Poliorketes was a great general and adventurer whose love of extravagance and daring led to his downfall. Through out his life Demetrios was one of the most feared of all the successors of Alexander, and while not personally popular in Macedon the dynasty Demetrios founded would endure until the rise of Rome.

[Biographies: Darius III Codomannus]

Darius III Codomannus (Old Persian: Darayavaush III) was the last king of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. Described unfairly by most ancient historians as weak and incompetent during his short six year reign Darius has been blasted for his decisions in the face of Alexander’s invasion. In the end Darius lost his kingdom and his life not to Alexander but to the treachery of his own Satrap.

Darius III was originally a distant relation of the rulers of Persia. The exact date of birth for Darius III (at this point in time known as Codomannus) is unknown, but is generally accepted as around 380 B.C. His father was Arasames, grandson of Darius II, and his mother was Sisygambis, daughter of Artaxerxes II. Not much is known of Codomannus before his ascension to the so called “Peacock Throne” besides his involvement in the military campaigns of Artaxerxes III. During the campaign against the Cadusian rebels in 340 B.C. Codomannus distinguished himself in the combat of champions by killing the enemy champion one on one, though his position was that of royal courtier. For this act of bravery and cunning Artaxerxes III made him Satrap of Armenia. In 338 B.C. Artaxerxes III, because of his violent rule, was assassinated on the orders of Bagoas, a eunuch who later became famed as ‘Kingmaker’. Bagoas replaced Artaxerxes with his son Arses, known to the Greeks as Artaxerxes IV. Arses was a weak ruler and a virtual non factor for the duration of his short reign. Philip II of Macedon made the preparations for the invasion of Persia during this time of weakness. In 336 B.C. Bagoas murdered Arses as well; he was beginning to show signs of independence. Bagoas needed to find a king that could function as a good puppet. Due to the utter devastation wreaked upon the Achaemenid family by Artaxerxes III the only real candidate was Codomannus, who was crowned as Darius III.

Now having become Emperor Darius would set out to consolidate his empire. After the reign of Artaxerxes III the entirety of the Achaemenid court was holding their breath in waiting to see what kind of Emperor Darius III would be. According to some sources Darius was a mild mannered and forgiving man, with extraordinary bravery in battle. From the outset Darius was determined to keep the empire together, he proved this by waging war on the rebellious province of Egypt soon after his coronation. But first Darius had to deal with Bagoas. It had not taken long for the eunuch to realize that Darius was not the puppet he was looking for, so he conspired to have him poisoned. But Darius hears of the plot and cleverly turns the tables, forcing Bagoas to drink the poison instead. While on the way to Egypt Darius dispatched his best commander, Memnon of Rhodes, to put a stop to the advance of the Macedonian scouts under Parmenion and Attalus. He also gains the allegiance of the Phoenicians, who depend on Persian power to keep the upper hand against their former colony of Carthage. Darius was able to recapture Egypt by year’s end and Memnon halts the progress of the Macedonians. Meanwhile in Macedon Philip II dies at the hands of an assassin, for Darius this is good news, because with Philip’s death his planned invasion is postponed till his heir gains control. All in all 336 closes as a good year for Darius III.

Not much is known of what happened in 335 B.C., but in 334 the greatest enemy Persia ever faced, Alexander, invaded. In 334 B.C. Alexander III of Macedon launched the long planned invasion of Persia, declaring his intent to get revenge for the destruction caused by Xerxes 150 years previous. Darius was caught off guard by this but quickly recovers, preparing to set in motion his grand strategy of smothering Alexander by opening six different theaters for him to fight. Meanwhile the Satraps of Asia Minor botch up the plan by ignoring Memnon’s advice to sneak behind Alexander’s advancing army and attack his home land. The Satraps attack Alexander at the Granicus River and are defeated despite intial success against him. The shock of the defeat sends them running into isolated fortresses. Early the following year Memnon dies mysteriously before a planned attack on some islands in the Aegean. The defeat at Granicus and the death of Memnon destroy Darius’ plans on how to deal with Alexander, and so he is forced to think of a new strategy. Unfortunately this new strategy is not really strategy but a hasty cobbling together of the army with which Darius will throw at Alexander in hopes that the size will overwhelm him. But the panic caused by Alexander’s swift advance causes him to leave Babylon to engage Alexander before the entire army is formed. As a result several contingents of soldiers, like the Bactrians, never got to participate in the coming battle. In November, 333 B.C. Alexander and Darius III face off for the first time at Issus and Alexander defeats the much larger Persian army with a flank attack. This forces Darius to leave the field immediately to prevent his capture; unfortunately he forgets his mother, wife-sister, daughters, son, chariot, and tent-palace. The embarrassment of losing his entire family and personal belongings will haunt Darius III for the remainder of his life. Darius returns to Babylon in December with firm resolve to defeat Alexander and cast him out of Persia (many take this as proof that Darius III was tougher then many give him credit for). Darius spends 332 and most of 331 building up his army, but this time he is patient and careful in order to ensure that a second Issus does not happen. But Darius is at the same time fearful for his family and just as Alexander enters Egypt he sends him an offer, half of the Achaemenid Empire and 10,000 talents of silver in exchange for peace and the safe return of his family. Alexander refuses and tells Darius that on top of what is offered he must appear before Alexander personally and recognize him as an equal. Darius III is astounded by the arrogance of Alexander and refuses to accept his counter offer. Darius then mobilizes his army to fight Alexander, but along the way he receives news that his wife Stateira had died trying to abort the child she carried. At the first Darius is confused by the news, he did not know Stateira was pregnant, then news came that Alexander had given Stateira a burial worthy of a Queen. Darius then sent a second peace offer to Alexander, offering half the empire and 30,000 talents of silver in exchange for peace, which would be sealed by marriage to Darius’ eldest daughter, and the safe return of his remaining family. Alexander refuses the offer outright this time, stating he would chase Darius to the ends of the earth. The two kings meet again in battle at Gaugamela on October 1, 331 B.C. This time around the armies are more evenly matched then before, but Alexander’s cavalry is able to gain the upper hand over the Persians and in the confusion caused by the attacking cavalry Darius’ chariot driver is killed and the Emperor is thrown to the ground, causing a general rout as they believe Darius is dead. After recovering from his fall Darius regroups some of his men and pulls off a some what orderly withdrawal of his battered army (this is contrary to popular opinion, which holds that it was a wild rout). The Persian army retreats to Ectbatana to regroup for another fight, but the speed of Alexander’s advance surprises Darius and at the advice of his courtiers he flees to the protection offered by his kinsman and Satrap of Bactria, Bessus. But Bessus had no intention of treating Darius kindly and while Bessus goes out from Bactria to meet him and gives Darius a carriage, things soon turn for the worse. On the orders of Bessus the carriage Darius is traveling in becomes a prison to hold him while Bessus and his fellow conspirators Nabarzanes and Barsaentes plot on how to deal with him. In July, 330 B.C. the forces of Alexander were continuing their pursuit of Darius, and Bessus decided that now was the time to act. He had Darius dragged out of his carriage, stripped of his royal finery, and killed in hopes that it would slow Alexander down. So died Darius III, last of the Achaemenids, at the age of 50.

In conclusion Darius III was a good king, but he could not stop the invaders. In the immediate aftermath of his death Darius III was given a magnificent burial by Alexander, who swore to avenge him. Bessus and company are soon caught and Bessus, along with Barsaentes, is violently executed. Nabarzanes is spared. In 324 Alexander married Darius’ eldest daughter Statira in order to solidify his claim as the next Achaemenid king. In modern times the debate rages over whether Darius was weak and incompetent or strong who made some unwise choices, whatever you classify him as Darius III was a king whose best was not engouth to save his kingdom.

[Biographies: Seleukos I Nikator]

Seleukos I Nikator (English: Seleucus I the Victorious) was one of the original Diadochi (English: Successors) of Alexander the Great and founder of the Seleukid dynasty. Through his great ambition and drive Seleukos almost reunited the Empire of Alexander under his banner, only to be cut down by an assassin.

Seleukos was born into the military aristocracy of Macedon. In 358 B.C. (or 354 the date is disputed) Seleukos was born in an unknown place in Macedonia. His father was Antiochus, a general in the army of Philip II who contributed in his rise to power, and his mother was Laodike of Europos. Not much is known of Seleukos before his 23rd birthday, though it is probably not much of a leap to say that as with all young Macedonian nobles he probably was sent as a hostage to Pella and may have served a stint in the hetairoi (companion cavalry), he may have even gotten to know Alexander in that time.

In 334 B.C. Alexander crossed into the Achaemenid Empire with an army, Seleukos was with him. At the age of 23 Seleukos accompanied Alexander on his campaign of conquest in Persia. After the defeat of Darius III at Issus and the falling of the Persian treasury at Susa into Alexander’s hands in 331 B.C. Seleukos was given command of the elite argyraspides (English: Silver Shields) regiment. During the campaign against King Porus in India Seleukos commanded his infantry with distinction. Then in 324 in the city of Susa, Alexander ordered his officers to marry the daughters of important Persian noblemen, in order to unite Macedon and Persia. Seleukos choose Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, Satrap of Bactria (interestingly engouth of all of the officers at this event only Seleukos didn’t divorce his Persian wife after Alexander’s death).

In 323 B.C. Alexander died of fever in Babylon, and the regent for his yet unborn son, Perdiccas seized control. Perdiccas believed that as regent it was with in his rights to give out satrapies to deserving generals to govern. Seleukos was not given a satrapy but was appointed chiliarch (vizer) and thus kept close to Perdiccas. In 321 B.C. Perdiccas called for a campaign against Ptolemy son of Lagus, Satrap of Egypt. For this campaign Seleukos was given command of the hetairoi. However Seleukos was both jealous of Perdiccas’ authority, and concerned at his inability to control the satraps, and thus headed the movement that resulted in Perdiccas’ assassination. After the assassination a conference was called for and the satraps met in Triparadisus in Syria. At the conference the empire was divided once more, and Seleukos was appointed Satrap of Babylon. At the same time Antigonos Monophthalmus (English: Antigonus the One-Eyed) was given special powers to deal with Eumenes of Kardia, the last supporter of Perdiccas. In 317 B.C. Antigonos, with help from Seleukos, defeated Eumenes and he was executed the following year. All of this had served to feed Antigonos’ delusions of grandeur, and in 315 B.C. he demanded that Seleukos give an account of his income from taxes in Babylon. Seleukos was deeply suspicious of Antigonos and so fled to the protection of Ptolemy in Egypt. Ptolemy welcomed Seleukos warmly and made him a nauarch (naval commander). Seleukos realized that Antigonos’ power would be too much for Ptolemy to handle so he forged a coalition between Ptolemy, Lysimachos of Thrace, and the regent Cassander of Macedon. In the war that resulted Seleukos played a major part with his naval forces in keeping some of Antigonos’ troops tied down. In 312 B.C. Seleukos helped Ptolemy win a decisive victory at the Battle of Gaza, where they defeated the son of Antigonos, Demetrios Poliorketes (English: Demetrius the Besieger). In the aftermath of the battle Seleukos and a small army left Ptolemy’s service and marched on Babylon. Due to the affection that the Babylonians had for Seleukos he was able to capture the city with out much trouble. This return to Babylon marks the official beginning of the Seleukid Empire, according to the Macedonian calendar the return is dated as October 7th, 312 and in the Babylonian, April 3rd, 311. Almost immediately Seleukos went to work on Antigonos, taking the provinces of Persia, Susiana, and Media away from his enemy. In 311 Antigonos attempted to put a stop to Seleukos’ progress by sending his son Demetrios on a raid, but this did not stop him. Over the course of the next several years Antigonos waged a fierce war with Seleukos, but Seleukos was able to get the upper hand and in 308 he defeated Antigonos in decisive battle. 308 marked the expiration of the peace treaty with Ptolemy and his allies, thus Antigonos purposed peace to Seleukos. This he accepted and Seleukos used the peace treaty to further expand his control. It was a little known fact that Seleukos schemed to be the next Antigonos, in that he wished to control the entire empire.

In 306 the illusion of a united empire would be shattered. In 309 B.C. during the war between Antigonos and Seleukos the regent Cassander had the young king to be, Alexander IV, murdered. He also arranged for Heracles, half-brother of Alexander IV, to be killed. It was not until some years later that the Diadochi would act on the news. In 306 Antigonos defeated Ptolemy in a major sea battle, in the aftermath he took the title Basileos or king. With in the year Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachos, and Seleukos all followed suite and declared their own kingdoms. Upon consolidating his control Seleukos marched east to India. It was in Seleukos’ plan to conquer the east before turning west. But Seleukos would meet his match in India, in the person of Chandragupta Maurya. In 302 Seleukos and Chandragupta came to terms. Both men agreed to recognize their empires as legitimate. Seleukos would also give Chandragupta the territories of Gandara and Arachosia. In exchange Chandragupta gave Seleukos 500 war elephants. To seal the deal Seleukos gave his daughter Helen to Chandragupta in marriage. In late 302 Seleukos turned back west and upon discovering that Antigonos was a bigger threat then ever formed another coalition with Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachos against him. In 301 Seleukos and Lysimachos joined forces and at the Battle of Ipsus defeated and killed Antigonos. In the aftermath of this the victors divided Antigonos’ land between themselves. Seleukos was given the provinces of Syria and Coelo-Syria. But before Seleukos could garrison Coelo-Syria it was occupied by Ptolemy, this action would be the reason for the next 200 years of war between the Seleukids and Ptolemies over Coelo-Syria. Seleukos then realized he needed a capital, but his empire was too big for one, so he founded two capitals: Antioch in the west and Seleukeia-on-the-Tigris (modern Baghdad) in the east. Meanwhile Ptolemy, in order to strengthen relations with Lysimachos, gave his daughter Arsinoe to him in marriage. Seleukos realized that he needed a strong alliance to counter this, so he asked for and received the hand in marriage of Demetrios’ (who had survived Ipsus) daughter, Stratonike. The marriage was held in 298 B.C. in Syria. But Seleukos’ ambition would soon cause a falling out between Seleukos and Demetrios. Seleukos demanded soon after the marriage the surrender of the territory of Cilicia as well as the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Demetrios refused the demands, starting off a war between them in 294. However just as all this was happening scandal rocked the Seleukid court. Antiochus, son of Seleukos and Apama, had fallen in love with his stepmother Stratonike and because he could not requite his love Antiochus had fallen sick. Seleukos was alarmed at the news and gave Stratonike to Antiochus to cure the problem; just to be sure he also made him viceroy of the eastern provinces. Meanwhile the war between Demetrios and Seleukos continued until 285 B.C., when he captured Demetrios in Cilicia. Seleukos had his father-in-law honorably confined in the city of Apamea. But Demetrios despaired over his position and drank himself to death in 283 B.C. Meanwhile affairs within the empire of Lysimachos heated up when the son of Lysimachos, Agathocles, was killed by his father. The unpopularity of Lysimachos soared and the citizens of his empire, through the person of Ptolemy Keraunos (the disfranchised brother of Ptolemy II), invited Seleukos to come in and remove him. Ever the opportunist, Seleukos accepted the invite and he declared war on Lysimachos. In February, 281 Seleukos defeated and killed Lysimachos in the battle of Corupedium, and his empire in Asia Minor passed into Seleukos’ hands. At this point in time Seleukos was now at the pinnacle of power; all of Alexander’s Empire save Egypt, Thrace, and Macedon lay in his power. In September, 281 Seleukos stood ready to cross over from Asia Minor into Thrace, so that he could finish the occupation of Lysimachos’ former empire. But it was not to be, on the eve of his crossing over Seleukos was killed by Ptolemy Keraunos, whose greed for power drove him. So died Seleukos I Nikator, one of the greatest of the Diadochi, at the age of 77.

In conclusion the impact Seleukos had on the forming Hellenistic kingdoms was great. Through his energetic rule of his domains Seleukos created the greatest, in land size, of any of the Successor states. For the next several hundred years the Seleukids would be a dominant power in the Middle East, toppled in the end by the rise of Rome.

[YOUR Ancestors]

Well I really can't choose.

You see my family is a very big mix of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Native American, and Norman. I guess I will choose Celtic.

[Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion....]

Hey, Josh here

I thought rather then start a new thread I would post my impressions on the full BI in this thread. Well.... starting off it looks like CA has pulled a Royal mess up on this game. What I mean is, though BI is more historically accurate then RTW it still has some rather glaring historical goofs. Like the bright blue Sassanids and Romano-British Graal Knights (looks like someone at CA must be a Romantic Arthur fan)! Someone must hate Persians at CA or SEGA, because they keep dressing them in bright colored jammies, well at least they aren't bright PINK! (Praise the Lord for that too!) The AI, which was promised to be much improved, looks like it at first, but really isn't. At least when compared to the community MODS like Darth's Mod and RTR. On this note isn't sad that amatuers seem to do a better job then the professionals? I was annoyed to find that there is no new voices for the new factions in BI, Goths, Vandals, and so on use Greek voices (in fact the campaign pieces still say "Yes Strategos!") and the Huns use Egyptian for example. I was sad that there is no new battle speechs either! I was looking forward to some Christian Battle Speechs! On the good side I do like the way that religon was implented, and the barbarian hordes for the migratory German, Slav, and Asiatic peoples are a nice touch. Though there is some rather gamey cheesy tactics that can be used by horde players (it seems encouraged!).

All in all BI was a...... nice improvement on the game. While CA and SEGA did stomp on and beat the poor horse called Historical Accuracy I do appericate the move in time line to the Late Empire, not engouth games on that! But I think I will wait until the Historically Correct Imperia Romanum MOD comes out before starting a real serious game

[Other: The Thracians]

The Thracians were a settled people that lived in the region of Thrace (modern day European Turkey and parts of the Balkans). The Thracians were a advanced peoples for their time, possessing amazing skills in metal-working and war.

The Thracians are first mentioned by Homer. The origins of the Thracians are clouded in mystery. The earliest mention of them is in Homer’s Iliad, in which he says that the Thracians under their King Rezos sided with Troy against the Mycenaeans. Due to the doubt of some that everything in Homer’s works can be trusted some consider the first mention of the Thracians to be in Herodotus’ histories, in which he states that the Thracians were the second most numerous people in the world (the first being the Indians). In any case modern historians now believe that the Thracians migrated from some unknown place into the Balkans and settled there in either the second millennium BC. Throughout their history the Thracians would have a long association with their neighbors to the south, the Greeks. The Greeks and Thracians first clashed in the 7th century BC when the Greeks began to colonize the Black Sea and Aegean coastline. Out of respect for the fierce Thracian presence many colonies bore Thracian names, the most famous being Byzantion (later Byzantium), named for Thracian king Byzas. In the 5th century BC a major united power arose in Thrace, the Odrys kingdom. This kingdom lasted until the mid 4th century when it broke apart into three separate kingdoms. These three kingdoms lasted until the rise of Macedon under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great (even then they were never actually fully conquered). During the Hellenistic period the fighting ability of the Thracians was so respected that one could find Thracian mercenaries as far east as the Indus. Then Rome came, and they fought several wars with the Thracian tribes, whose independent streak caused many headaches. Like the Greeks before them Rome learned to respect the Thracians’ fighting ability, any captured Thracian was certainly to have become a gladiator. Spartacus, the most well known of all gladiators, was a Thracian. The Romans eventually conquered Thrace in 45 AD, but that was not the end. As legionaries the Thracians continued their warrior tradition, and Thracian legions earned a reputation for toughness in battle. One of the most famous incidents involving Thracian legionaries was in 236 AD when Thracian troops placed one of their own, Maximinus Thrax, on the Roman throne. The Thracians eventually faded from history as their ancestral lands were occupied by Germanic and Asiatic invaders towards the end of the Roman Empire. The Thracians finally disappeared in the 6th century AD, under the Slavic tide.

Thracian society and culture was rich and deeply varied. Due to the amount of artifacts they left behind, and the writings of their adversaries, we know much of Thracian society and culture. The social structure of the Thracians centered on a simple pyramid with a Priest-King and his warriors at the top and everyone else below them. Surprisingly slavery was almost non-existent in Thrace; it only existed in limited amounts on royal lands. Great emphasis was placed in Thracian society and culture on the ability to wield a weapon and ride a horse from a young age. For in addition to their formidable infantry the Thracian cavalry was a superb force. Not everything in Thracian life was in soldiering, they also were great artisans. The surviving pieces that we have of Thracian art come mostly from the massive burial mounds of their Priest-Kings. The burial horde discovered at Panagyurishte, Bulgaria (which is currently the oldest collection uncovered) contains many examples of the beautiful gold and silver metal work done by the Thracians, as well as their jewel work, which is equally beautiful. The economy of the Thracians is generally believed to have been centered on farming, cattle-herding, and trade. The extent to which the Thracians traded is unknown, but is believed to have gone as far as Persia. The Thracian religious beliefs were wide and varied. The primary beliefs were in a figure known as ‘The Horseman’ and his female friend Bendida, and in wine. The Thracian wine cult is the better known of the two. One of the things that the Greeks found most repulsive about the Thracians was their incessant drunkenness. In fact the Greeks, and later the Romans, considered the Thracians the most drunken race in all the earth. Warriors, before battle, considered it good luck to get drunk before going off to war. And when they returned from war, they would get drunk again and sing songs of battles won (this was a particular object of Greek disgust). This wine cult, ironically, later became a popular religion amongst the Greeks and Romans. In connection with this was the Thracian belief in an afterlife-rebirth cycle, which explains the grandeur of the Priest-Kings’ burial mounds. Tattooing was also a religious practice amongst the Thracians, although curiously it was a uniquely female practice. Women amongst the Thracians were wild and loose, according to the Greeks. Upon reaching maturity a young woman was encouraged to have relations with as many men as possible until marriage, and then be faithful to their husbands. The number of wives a man could have varied from tribe to tribe.

The warriors of the Thracians are what they are most famous for. The Thracians were most famous for their light infantry, called psiloi or skirmishers by the Greeks. These skirmishers were the bane of hoplites and heavy infantry everywhere, and were easily recognized by their fox skin caps, high leather boots, and zeira (a brightly colored cloak with geometric patterns all over it). The Thracian skirmishers caused the Greek hoplites much trouble in their clashes, due to the speed and hard-hitting nature of the Thracian light infantry. The impact of the skirmishers was so great that it would cause the Greeks to adapt skirmishers of their own and make their hoplites lighter. Of course the skirmishers were not the only Thracian troops. There was also the Thureophoroi and Bastomae; these were the heavy infantry of the Thracians. Both carried the famous Rhomphia, a battle scythe that is legendary for its sharpness. Like their lighter cousins the Thracian heavy infantry was also easily recognized. They wore bronze helmets that Alexander the Great later made famous as the “Thracian” style, a crescent shaped shield called a Pelta (later in 300 B.C. they started using an oval shield) and zeira. The cavalry of the Thracians was, like the light infantry, a superb fighting force. Originally the cavalry started out as a mainly reconnaissance force, but after encountering the Skythians the Thracians put more emphasis on cavalry. Like the infantry most Thracian cavalry was light skirmishers that were the bane of those heavier then them. Thracian light cavalry used many tactics similar to those used by the Skythians, such as hit and run. The dress of these light cavalry resemble their infantry counterparts: fox skin caps, high leather boots, and zeira. The heavy cavalry of the Thracians was every bit as dangerous as its light cousins. Details on Thracian heavy cavalry before Alexander are sketchy, what we do know is that the heavy cavalry were trained and equipped in the Skythian manner, or in other words with heavy armor and a kind of lance and trained to charge in a tight wedge. After Alexander we have greater information about the heavy cavalry. Post Alexander Thracian cavalry usually charged in a kind of hammer formation, making them very dangerous to all infantry. They were equipped with a cavalry sarissa, Pelta or oval shield, a Thracian or Boeotian helmet, and zeira.

In conclusion the Thracians were one of the most interesting warrior peoples in antiquity. Feared for their fighting ability, renowned for their art, the Thracians are an interesting people to study.

[Battles: Battle of Chalons]

The Battle of Chalons or as it alternately known, The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields was one of the bloodiest battles in ancient history. It was also one of the most decisive.

The road to the battle was started by the actions of a single woman. In 449 AD the sister of Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, Honoria, had been discovered as having an affair with her steward. In a rage Valentinian had the hapless steward executed and Honoria confined by marrying her to the wealthy senator Herculanus. Honoria was also enraged and to spite her brother she asked the King of the Huns, Attila, to be her champion. To convince Attila the offer was real Honoria had her ring sent with the letter. Attila meanwhile was looking for new lands to plunder; his numerous raids on the Eastern Roman Empire had nearly exhausted its treasury. On top of this in 450 a new emperor ascended to the purple, Marcian, and he was determined to not let Attila intimidate him. When Attila received Honoria’s letter and ring it gave him the perfect excuse to invade the west, which was untouched and rich. In early 451 AD Attila crossed the Rhine with a massive army consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepids, Franks, Rugians, Sciri, Burgundians, and Thrugians into the Western Roman Empire. He declared that his intention was not to plunder and raid, but to get his dowry from his upcoming marriage to Honoria. Attila had taken that by asking him to be her champion Honoria was asking for Attila to marry her. For this dowry, Attila demanded half the Western Roman Empire. Valentinian outright refused and had Honoria forced into a nunnery in Constantinople for the rest of her life. Attila’s first strike landed on Divodurum (modern Metz) on April 7th, followed by Cambri, Strasbourg, Rhiems, Amiens, Worms, Mainz, Colongne, and Trier. Every city Attila touched was torched; it seemed nothing could stop him from having his way. By June, 451 Attila and his Huns had reached the city of Aureliani (modern Orleans) and halted there. The reason for this was that Aureliani rested in Alan territory, and the Alan king Sangiban promised he would open the gates to Attila. But Sangiban was delaying for some reason, leaving Attila out in the open. Meanwhile Flavius Aetius, Magister Militium (English: Master of the Army), had moved his army out of Italy and into to Gaul. Once there Aetius entered into negotiations with Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, who was his long time enemy. At first Theodoric refused to listen to Aetius but with the help of a powerful local friend named Avitus he was able to convince the Visigothic king, and some other scattered tribes, to an alliance. The Roman and Visigoth forces would meet up outside Aureliani on June 14th. Just as the allies joined up Sangiban opened the gates and let Attila in. Aetius acted fast and managed to get his army into Aureliani just in time to catch the Huns as they entered the suburbs. The Romans and Visigoths easily drove the Huns out of the city (They were ill-suited for fighting in the streets) and Attila began retreating, probably with the intent of returning to his home lands in the Pannonian Plains (modern Hungary). But Aetius was not willing to let Attila escape, so he ordered a pursuit of the Hunnic army, destroying its rear guard in the process. On June 20th The Roman-Allied army (The Alans had defected during the pursuit) caught up with the Huns at a place called the Catalaunian Plains, near modern Chalons-en-Champagne.

Aetius and Theodoric drew up their army first. Upon arriving at Catalaunian Plains Aetius drew up his army unconventionally with his least reliable troops, the Alans under Sangiban in the center, the reason would become clear later. On the right were the Visigoths under Theodoric and his son Thorismund and on the left was Aetius and his crack Roman troops. Attila was much more conventional in his draw up, with his best Hunnic troops in the center, the bulk of his allies under the Gepid king Ardaric on the right, and the Ostrogoths under their king Walamir on the left. The number of troops involved is disputed to this day, but it is generally agreed that a total of 100,000 men took part in the battle.

The battle would not begin until after midday. Attila had become shaken by his reversal of fortune and so for the morning of June 20th, 451 stayed behind the barricade of his wagon laager. During this time Attila, as was the custom of the Huns, made a sacrifice and had the entrails read to assure his men. But the diviners foretold disaster for the Huns, and the death of an enemy leader. Attila hoped this meant Aetius would die that day. To raise the spirits of his men Attila decided he would personally fight in the battle and gave a stirring speech before battle, only one part is known for sure: “If any man stands still while Attila fights… He is a dead man!” The Huns and their allies struck out of the laager at 3 PM. The center of the battle soon became for control of the only piece of high ground, a ridge that dominated the area around the Hunnic left. Walamir reached the hill first, followed by Thorismund and his cavalry. A fierce bloody battle for control ensued with Thorismund emerging triumphant in the end by driving Walamir off. After this initial skirmish the details became sketchy, what we do know is that the fighting was so fierce that the river which ran through the area ran red with the blood of the fallen, this earning the battle its Latin nickname: cadavera vero innumera “Truly Countless Bodies”. According to the surviving accounts Attila and his Huns advanced ahead of their main force and broke the Alans in the Roman-Allied center, then chased after them further. This put Theodoric and his Visigoths in a hard position because they were now being hit from two sides, in the front by Walamir, in the left by Attila. At this moment Theodoric rode out to keep panic from spreading, but while doing this the Visigoth king was knocked off his horse and killed by his own horsemen, but rather then loose heart the Visigoths struck with renewed fervor, driving off Walamir and Attila. Meanwhile on another part of the battlefield Aetius and his Roman forces did their part by keeping the Huns’ other allies occupied, setting the stage for the next part of the battle. On the ridge Thorismund regrouped his cavalry and charged the Ostrogoth forces in their flank, driving them off the field. Meanwhile the main Visigoth host turned and fell on the Hunnic center and Attila, realizing that Aetius was attempting a “Cannae” (a double envelopment) fled with his remaining forces back behind the wagon laager just as dusk fell upon the battle field. So ended one of the bloodiest battles in ancient history.

In the aftermath of the battle much happened. The next morning revealed the level of carnage that occurred the previous day, thousands lay strewn across the battlefield. Thorismund, who had just learned that morning of his father’s death, suggested a mass assault on the Hun wagon laager. He told Aetius that he must finish the job he started. But Aetius was not only a general but the consummate politician. Aetius knew that if Attila and the Huns were destroyed then the Visigoths would become too powerful for him to control, so he advised Thorismund to hurry home to what is now Toulouse to secure his throne from his brothers, which Thorismund did though reluctantly. Once the Visigoths withdrew, so did Aetius. Meanwhile Attila had prepared a funeral pyre made of horse saddles to kill himself on, for death was preferable to falling to Aetius and Thorismund. But when word of the Roman-Allied with drawl reached Attila he called everything off and packed up, soon crossing back over the Rhine and into Pannonia again.

In conclusion the Battle of Chalons, or Catalaunian Fields, was one of the major battles of its era, while many modern historians have ridiculed Chalons’ status in light of Attila’s return the following year completely unfazed some still hold that at Chalons the Romans and their allies saved Western Europe from a much darker Dark Ages.

[Check this out!]

Hey Everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a biography of Japan's first Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and submitted it to the premier Samurai history site: Samurai Archives.

It has been accepted and posted on the site! See it here: Minamoto no Yoritomo

Tell me what you think.